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Manchester City have lost five of their last seven Premier League games on the back of Champions League matches. They will hope to reverse that trend at Arsenal on Sunday
In the end Manchester City might have more to thank Napoli's Giovanni Di Lorenzo for than just making their midweek Champions League task a little easier.
The Napoli skipper's first half red card at the Etihad on Thursday meant City played much of that tricky contest against 10 men and once the Blues found the breakthrough early in the second half the outcome was never in doubt.
In the end Pep Guardiola's side secured a 2-0 victory to ensure a winning start to their Champions League campaign. The nature of the contest also allowed Guardiola to make five subs. Rodri asked to come off on the hour but Jeremy Doku was replaced 20 minutes from the end while Erling Haaland, Tijjani Reijnders and Josko Gvardiol were afforded an extra 10 minutes rest.
That helps given the nature of this weekend's fixture against Arsenal and the scheduling differences the two sides have faced.
Arsenal were in action on Tuesday night, away at Athletic Bilbao in an early 5.45pm kick off. City did not finish their contest with Napoli until around 10pm on Thursday, with the Gunners' match ending around 50 hours earlier.
Even allowing for the travel time back from Spain, that offers Mikel Arteta's side an advantage that will no doubt irk Guardiola, even if he turned down the chance to talk about it in the lead up to the contest.
"Don't go for that side, it is not necessary," he said in his press conference.
Regardless of Guardiola's diplomacy, the fact remains that City had just two clear days between sizeable fixtures, allowing for little time to train or prepare.
"We are going to [go] hiking in the mountains," joked Guardiola of the plan.
In reality City will have rested and recovered with a view to going again at the Emirates with the chance to draw level with Arsenal on points in the Premier League table and cap a perfect week with three significant victories.
To do so they will have to buck a recent trend of struggles when it comes to league games on the back of European nights. City have been beaten in five of their last seven fixtures immediately after a Champions League contest, including the 5-1 thrashing at Arsenal last season.
The quality of opposition must be taken into account with that statistic, with two of those five defeats coming against Liverpool on top of the reverse to the Gunners, but it remains a trend that Guardiola will hope to prevent from continuing.
Two games in 72 hours will not help, but City's schedule for the remainder of the Champions League league phase is kinder, unless they are thrown a curve ball by the Premier League fixture makers on the back of a long trip north of the Arctic Circle to take on Bodo/Glimt in January.
As Guardiola surmised in February ahead of the European tie with Real Madrid: “The schedule is what it is."
The Blues boss will hope it doesn't cost his side in the capital on Sunday.
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