MANCHESTER -- Pep Guardiola doesn't like playing on Monday nights -- particular after Manchester City's two games on that day this season were completely at odds with their brilliant form on other days.
The Premier League leaders head to Stoke City this Monday for their last match before a three-week break without a fixture due to FA Cup games and the international break.
However, Monday nights have not gone well for City. The only time they have failed to win in the Premier League at the Etihad Stadium was on a Monday night when they drew 1-1 with Everton in August while it was also the day their FA Cup hopes were ended after their shock defeat to League One side Wigan Athletic.
"I have bad experiences playing games on Mondays. You have to be focused because Stoke away is always complicated, [they are] fighting to be in the Premier League," he told a news conference.
"We were lucky last season to win there. When we face teams who are fighting to stay in the Premier League it is complicated.
"I don't like to play on Monday because the weekend everybody is involved and when the weekend is over, they are like the weekend is over, there are no more games, but we have to play."
Ironically, Guardiola had a perfect Monday night record before this season. He won all three games last season with City and at Barcelona he won three matches without conceding a goal -- including a 5-0 victory over Real Madrid.
"Sometimes in Barcelona, I remember when we played on Monday, a long time ago, always it was not good," he added. "At Wigan we lost because we played for 55 minutes with 10 against 11, and we weren't precise enough to score a goal."
His only Monday night game in charge at Bayern Munich was a first round German Cup victory over BSV Schwarz-Weiss Rehden, which they won 5-0.
Playing games on a Monday has proved controversial in Germany with thousands of Borussia Dortmund fans boycotting recent matches and vowing to continue with a protest until Monday night games are stopped. [link