Manchester City’s Manuel Akanji makes stark comparison between Premier League stars’ schedule | OneFootball

Manuel Akanji has made a stark comparison between the demands of Premier League footballers and other figures within the game.

Manchester City are emerging from a troublesome run of fixtures throughout the winter weeks, recording a much-needed away win at Leicester City to close out 2024 and bring an end to a long-standing run of matches away from home without victory.

Goals from Savinho and Erling Haaland recorded all three points at the King Power Stadium prior to the turn of the year, giving Manchester City supporters some hope of a second-half turnaround in fortunes in the season.

City fans will also be hoping that the New Year brings about a better run when it comes to availability of players in the first-team squad, with injuries and fitness problems hampering the numbers available to Pep Guardiola.

Speaking during a recent interview, Manuel Akanji pointed towards the winter breaks that are being enjoyed by footballers across Europe, in comparison to the demands of those in the Premier League in particular throughout this period of the year.

“We played with the squad like this for two years since I was here and it worked. We’ve had lots of injuries, so it’s not easy at the moment. Even now we’ll find a way, come out of this and luck will come again on our side,” Akanji said in reference to City’s recent fitness struggles.

He continued, “Everybody wants to stay fit, nobody wants to be injured, but the most important thing is that players who are healthy need to stay healthy. But it’s not always that easy when you play so many matches a year and you don’t really have time to recover.

“I have friends of mine who are on holidays now recovering for the second part of the season – we don’t have that. We need to try to find a way that these players playing now stay healthy so that we can get the other guys back and rotate a bit more and rest those who need to rest.”

Manchester City will return to their matchday routines when West Ham United visit the Etihad Stadium on Saturday afternoon, in what will mark the first of a number of high-profile fixtures to begin the New Year.

Salford City then make the short trip across central Manchester for an FA Cup third round tie against Pep Guardiola’s side, while January also presents two mammoth and must-win UEFA Champions League games away to PSG and at home to Club Brugge at the end of the month.