Pep Guardiola reveals Man City decision that impacts Newcastle United

Pep Guardiola has revealed Premier League champions Manchester City were offered a chance to reschedule their Carabao Cup tie with Watford - but decided to prioritise their league visit to Newcastle United.

City have enjoyed a positive start to their attempts to secure a fourth consecutive Premier League title after collecting maximum points from away days at Chelsea and West Ham United and their first home game of the season against newly promoted Ipswich Town. That has left Guardiola’s men as one of only two top flight clubs to possess unblemished record ahead of their return to league action this weekend. The home clash with Brentford on Saturday kicks off a hectic second half to the month for City as they face a Champions League meeting with Inter, a league game with Arsenal and their Carabao Cup visit to Watford before rounding off September with a lunchtime trip to Newcastle on the final Saturday of the month.

Fixture congestion has been a constant source of frustration for Guardiola and he has revealed City have rejected a chance to visit Watford on the Thursday before their trip to St James Park and explained the reasoning behind their decision.

Speaking ahead of his side’s home game with The Bees on Saturday, the City boss said: "It's going to happen in many cases. It's going to happen many, many times for the teams who play in all competitions. They gave us the alternative to play on Thursday away in London to have more days, but we have a Saturday game in Newcastle. We've prioritised to have more rest for Newcastle and we're going to play Tuesday."

City’s decision should not be a surprise to any onlookers after Guardiola praised Newcastle last month and revealed he is expected to see the Magpies side of ‘two seasons ago’ when Eddie Howe’s men produced a remarkable level of consistency to qualify for the Champions League for the first time in two decades.

In an interview given ahead of the current season, the former Barcelona head coach said: "Always at the beginning of the season, the first target is to finish in the top four. People say 'Oh, come on'. I say 'No'. Newcastle are not in Europe and are going to play one game a week. Newcastle with one game a week this season will be the Newcastle of two seasons ago. Newcastle will be back because it's one game a week. They don't have European competition and the energy they play with, the physicality, with just one game a week, we will be trembling. We will be trembling when we play against them."