Manchester City are aiming for their first Club World Cup: but the players are going to be tired and will play nine games in December!

Manchester City are ready to win the Club World Cup for the first time in their history, and in the Manchester City squad, we also saw Kevin De Bruyne, who has just returned from injury to participate in joint training, and Manchester City's first-team squad is close to returning to normal.

But it is precisely because of the Club World Cup that Manchester City are also getting more tired, and the Premier League should have rested in midweek, but Manchester City still travelled to Saudi Arabia and have already completed the semi-finals of the Club World Cup, Manchester City defeated Asian football champions Urawa Red Diamonds 3-0 to advance to the Club World Cup final.

Manchester City have played six games in December

On December 23, the match between Manchester City and Brentford was also postponed as Manchester City reached the Club World Cup final, because Manchester City is currently only fourth in the Premier League, not only will it continue to be unable to catch up with Arsenal, Liverpool and other teams, but also the possibility of being overtaken by Tottenham, Guardiola needs to calm the emotions in the team, of course, Manchester City has won in the Premier League once or twice, I believe Guardiola is still confident.

Pep Guardiola's challenge is to avoid injuries to his players due to the intense schedule and the hard work of traveling, with City playing a total of nine games from 4 December to 30 December, averaging one game every three days, including a 3-2 win away to Red Star Belgrade on 13 December, a 2-2 draw at home to Crystal Palace, and a two-day match away to Everton on 28 December and at home to Sheffield United on 30 December.

It can indeed be seen that Manchester City's performance has declined under the dense schedule, with only three wins, two draws and one defeat after six games in December, while Haaland has missed four games this month and Doku has missed five.

Pep Guardiola's side have had their fair share of problems

At 02:00 a.m. on December 23, Manchester City will play at home against Brazilian side Fluminense, and the good news is that Haaland and Doku have also resumed normal training, but it is difficult to say whether Guardiola will arrange two big players to play.

In the match against Urawa Red Diamonds, Bernardo Silva once again made a cameo appearance as a central striker in the game, which also shows that Manchester City, who only have 24 first-team players (including 4 goalkeepers), has a very low ability to withstand injuries, and most of the players are irreplaceable.

And the 26-year-old central defender Ruben Dias has also made a series of low-level mistakes this season, in the author's opinion, Dias's embarrassing performance in some games can actually be seen through the midfield problem, Manchester City's former central defender Stones has been fixed in the midfield position by Guardiola, and his absence is as important as Rodri and De Bruyne's absence.

Kevin De Bruyne has played just two games this season

In the author's opinion, Manchester City's loss to Newcastle in the third round of the EFL Cup is really a good thing, otherwise Guardiola will face a more difficult situation, for example, Newcastle also played 6 games in December, the result was bad, 2 wins and 4 losses, and the Champions League and EFL Cup were all eliminated.

Although Newcastle has far more first-team players than Manchester City, we can also see that Newcastle has more injuries and is not less intensive than Manchester City, and the result is obvious, Newcastle does not have the ability of Manchester City, but collapsed in November and 12 due to fitness and injuries.

City's problems are complicated right now

The Club World Cup will not be the most difficult problem for Manchester City, but there are also problems that will be difficult to heal for this team, and in a season when Haaland's goals have dropped, City have often been able to create a lot of chances but fail to take them, and more often than not, they have always been able to control the ball but not be able to deliver the final blow effectively.

On the defensive end, Manchester City's defensive efficiency seems to have deteriorated a lot, 4:4 Chelsea, 3:3 Tottenham, 2:2 Crystal Palace, all fully confirm this, especially Phil Foden's fitness situation at the end of the game, and the 33-year-old Kyle Walker also seems to be gradually showing physical problems, these problems make Manchester City prone to major mistakes when facing opponents in the final stage of the game.

Compared to Manchester City a few years ago, Manchester City seems to be more likely to show their blood bar this season, and Manchester City's participation in the Club World Cup at the time when they need to rest the most may see the possibility of more Premier League teams taking points from Manchester City, and it will be interesting to see if Guardiola can reverse Manchester City's decline.