De Bruyne: Tough schedule can be a good thing | OneFootball

As Manchester City embark on a tough February schedule, Kevin De Bruyne believes it not necessarily a bad thing to face a run of difficult fixtures.

The month begins on Sunday when we face Arsenal at the Emirates at 16:30 (UK), the side that have been our closest rivals in our two most recent Premier League title triumphs.

We also face Newcastle United, Liverpool and a trip to Tottenham in the Premier League before the end of the month as well as two Champions League dates with current holders Real Madrid.

Now in his 10th year at the Club, De Bruyne has experienced similar runs and says it can help to need to be at our best for every game.

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“There’s always a month or two-month period in a year where you get every big team and a lot of big games in a row,” the Belgian said. “Sometimes that can be a good thing, sometimes it can be a hard thing also.

“We’ve had moments where it helps to be in that rhythm – knowing that we have to be at 100 per cent all the time.

“Let’s hope it’s that one for us, we find the rhythm and do better than we have already done.”

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City will be boosted by the availability of new signings Abdukodir Khusanov, Omar Marmoush and Vitor Reiss for the clash with the Gunners.

The January signings were ineligible for our midweek win over Club Brugge that saw us secure a place in the Champions League play-offs.

Khusanov and Marmoush both started the 3-1 victory over Chelsea and De Bruyne believes they have been a welcome addition to the squad.

“It obviously helped us for the Chelsea game,” he added. “Abdukodir came in when we didn’t have any defenders, he had a tough five minutes but after that he did well. He should be proud to do that at 20-years-old.

“I thought Omar had a good game too and showed the qualities he had. It’s something we maybe lacked a bit – somebody running in behind and can play multiple positions.

“We have more people in the squad and have more rotational options which is good.”

With players such as John Stones returning and Oscar Bobb on the way back in addition to the new players, De Bruyne believes the squad is in a better place after a tough period.

“We have now found some resilience to bounce back after a difficult period,” De Bruyne said. “We were not good enough in that period – we lost way too many games.

“You have to accept injuries, and we had a lot of them. You have to go on – everyone was willing and working hard to be there, but we were just not fit enough as a team to compete in that moment of time.

“We are slowly getting some players back – we need some more but with the new players coming in, it’s giving us some breathing space for others to come back. Hopefully that helps us.”