Manchester City’s struggling stars will be forced to sleep at the club’s training ground overnight ahead of their 12.30pm Boxing Day showdown with Everton.
Pep Guardiola revealed that his charges will be dragged away from their family homes and insisted he hopes they embraces the measure with open arms.
City have lost nine of their last 12 matches, the worst run of Guardiola’s managerial career, and last tasted victory on December 4 against Nottingham Forest.
Their stars were given the morning and afternoon with their loved ones, and it is not uncommon for footballers to be hauled later in on Christmas Day
They debuted the overnight sleeping measure in 2014, becoming the first Premier League club to do so, effectively using the ‘Etihad Campus’ as a hotel the night before home games.
‘We train today (Tuesday), we train tomorrow (Wednesday) night, we will stay over here and we are going to play on Boxing Day,’ said Guardiola.
Pep Guardiola is forcing Man City’s stars to sleep at their training ground ahead of their Boxing Day clash with Everton
it is not uncommon for stars to be hauled in to training on Christmas Day in the afternoon
City became the first Premier League club to house their players overnight at their complex in 2014
‘Hopefully they want to be here, because it’s our job.’
Everton have proved their mettle in recent times with a 4-0 win over Wolves before holding Arsenal and Chelsea to 0-0 draws.
City are hoping to arrest an alarming loss of form which has seen them slip to seventh in the Premier League and four points off fourth-placed Forest.
They had only lost nine in their previous 106 games before this torrid 12-match spell which has seen them suffer defeat as many times.
City are bottom of the Premier League form table over the last eight games having picked up a paltry four points – one less than next-worst Southampton, who recently sacked Russell Martin and replaced him with Ivan Juric.
They did at least call in the players’ wives and girlfriends for the club’s Christms party in a bid to raise their spirits.
The likes of Kevin De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva and Ilkay Gundogan appeared to enjoy the occasion with their partners posting black and white pictures on Instagram.
Gundogan and wife Sara took to the photo booth with Silva and his wife Ines Degener Tomaz.
They are looking to turn around their form after losing nine of the last 12 matches – an unprecedentedly bad run for Guardiola
Guardiola added: ‘This situation is new for all of us. It’s about us, everyone. The guys are running and making an effort more than ever.
‘People say we are not running, fighting, it’s this player, this manager – it is not about that.
‘It is about many little details or some big details that make us not as good as we were. But we have another opportunity on Boxing Day.
‘We have players coming back and at a certain time we will be better.’
