MANCHESTER // Pep Guardiola has acknowledged his Manchester City team may not be able to halt the “unstoppable” Christian Benteke as he prepares them to face an aerial attack from Crystal Palace.
The Catalan accepted it is a must-win game for his title-challenging team at Selhurst Park on Saturday after dropping six points in their last three home league games.
City were denied victory against Middlesbrough two weeks ago but an injury-time header from Marten de Roon, who outjumped the smaller Gael Clichy and they have also conceded from crosses against Celtic, Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United.
Guardiola is set to name a smaller side than Alan Pardew’s tall team and is especially wary of target man Benteke, Palace’s £27 million (Dh122.5m) record signing.
The striker has scored the most headed goals in the division – 19 – since his arrival from his native Belgium in 2012 and Guardiola believes his supply line, wingers Andros Townsend and Wilfried Zaha, also pose a threat.
“Benteke in the box is unstoppable,” he said. “They play a lot with Benteke, second balls with all the wingers, with Townsend and Zaha.
“They are fast and good one against one and they cross a lot. [Midfielder Yohan] Cabaye is an exceptional player so it will be a tough game.”
Palace have the worst record of any team in all four divisions of the English league in 2016, taking just 24 points from 33 games, and are only one place above the relegation zone after suffering four consecutive defeats.
But Guardiola will ignore the standings, explaining: “When I see a team I never look at the position of the table. I try to analyse what they do and especially when they play good.
“Maybe they make the best performance ever and maybe not so this kind of thing does not depend upon which position they are in now. But we want to stay with the big teams in the Premier League so we have to win.”
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Guardiola will make a late decision which of his South American contingent to select as he determines whether to omit Sergio Aguero for the first game after an international break again.
The Catalan left his injury-prone top scorer on the bench against Everton a month ago after he represented Argentina in their troubled World Cup qualifying campaign.
Now Aguero, Nicolas Otamendi, Pablo Zabaleta, Fernandinho and Claudio Bravo are all available, even though the goalkeeper came off with a minor injury in Chile’s draw with Colombia.
But Guardiola is concerned they will be fatigued as he considers a busy fixture list that includes a potentially decisive Champions League group game against Borussia Monchengladbach on Wednesday.
“All the players came back good and fit,” added Guardiola, including Vincent Kompany, who missed Belgium’s games against the Netherlands and Estonia.
“The players who played 90 minutes and [another] 90 are tired, especially the South American players.”
Guardiola has vowed to rotate as he admits that most of his players will need a rest, sooner or later, and contemplated the mental, as well as physical effects, of a demanding workload.
“They are human beings,” he said. “Today the schedule is so stressful. Some, when they come back from the national team, their regeneration is quicker than the other ones.
“I am still getting to know my players and how they react in that situation. Sometimes, when you are see they are down, you have to take them up.”
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