Guardiola explains why he left Haaland and Doku out for the Crystal Palace match.

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola explained the six changes he made to the squad for the Premier League match against Crystal Palace on Wednesday night.

He omitted players such as Erling Haaland, Jeremy Doku and Rayan Cherki from the lineup at the Etihad.

The club aims to close the gap to league leaders Arsenal to within two points ahead of the FA Cup final against Chelsea on Saturday.

Guardiola said: “We have to make decisions before and after it depends on results whether we judge it nicely or the opposite. We have to take it.”

“People don’t believe me, but the players who sometimes don’t play, we trust them otherwise they would not be here.”

“We have today, then after three days we have to travel to London, which is always a long, long trip. We face Chelsea who have a long, long week waiting just for that game. They don’t have to travel.”

“Then after we have travel to Bournemouth, one of the top form teams. Everyone has to play these three games.”