Manchester United and Manchester City were left with less time to prepare for the 2020/21 season than others, as the two clubs were involved in European matches that were played in August.
The players of these two clubs have ended up being involved in more matches over a shortened period, were left with less time to prepare for the new campaign.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side have not enjoyed a good start to the season as they have managed only two league wins in six matches.
During October’s international break, Victor Lindelöf alluded to a lack of sufficient “time off” as one of the reasons for his side’s poor form.
Sweden will play three matches in this month’s international break and it includes a friendly against Denmark, followed by UEFA Nations League matches against Croatia and France.
Sweden manager Janne Andersson has detailed why he wants to rest his key players, including the United defender, for the friendly match against Denmark next week.
“With him [Viktor Claesson], and many others, the load level is different. Players like Marcus Berg, Kristoffer Olsson, Emil Forsberg and Victor Nilsson Lindelöf have had an almost brutal fixture list towards the end. We have to be very careful and responsive about those players when we gather together,” Andersson told Fotbollskanalen.
Lindelöf has made eight appearances and has missed three matches in all competitions for United this season.
One of them came in his side’s latest defeat against İstanbul Başakşehir on Wednesday and after the Champions League loss, Solskjaer confirmed the centre-back didn’t feature against the Turkish club due to a back problem.
Manchester United take on Everton this weekend and it remains to be seen whether the Swede will be fit to face the Toffees.
