Fatigue no issue for Sterling who would ‘play tomorrow’ after firing Man City past Southampton

Raheem Sterling says fatigue is no issue for him, despite plenty continuing to question the Premier League’s relentless schedule in 2020-21, with the Manchester City winger saying he would “play again tomorrow” after firing the Blues past Southampton.

Injuries have spiked this season throughout the English top flight, with many players being pushed to breaking point in another campaign that has been impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.

Plenty, led by Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp, have called for the reintroduction of the five substitute rule – only for those calls to fall on deaf ears – while a number of shock results are considered to have been made possible by a lack of supporters and full match sharpness.

Sterling, though, claims to be feeling fresh and, after netting a match-winner at St Mary’s on Saturday, has no complaints at the games continuing to come thick and fast.

He told BBC Sport: “We’re footballers, this is how we like it, we want game after game. I’m happy to play again tomorrow.”

For Sterling, there are bigger issues for City to contend with in the hectic festive period than a lack of recovery time.

Pep Guardiola’s side currently boast the Premier League’s meanest defence, with just 12 goals conceded and six shutouts secured.

At the opposite end of the field, though, the target has been found on just 19 occasions through 13 games - with Wolves the only side in the top half of the table that cannot claim to have bettered that return.

Sterling is looking for improvement there, with the 26-year-old aware that he forms part of a group that need to “step up” for a team chasing down more major silverware.

He told Match of the Day after seeing a 16th-minute strike down Southampton: “It was a tough game, they’ve been doing really well in recent weeks. The message today was to show passion. Show aggression and I think we’ve done that.

“I’m happy to be on the scoresheet but the most important thing was to grind the result out.

“You’ve got to concede as few as possible. We’ve done that, we’ve just got to score a few more at the other end.

“Confidence is a key thing. They are very confident at the moment. We’ve boosted our confidence and we’re getting back to a high level.

“We know what we can do on the attacking front. I and a few other attackers need to step up. Hopefully we can do that in the next weeks.”

Sterling added to Amazon Prime on the challenge posed by a Saints side that has been flying high in 2020-21 and the need for City to kick on into the new year: “It was a tough one, we know how difficult it has been in the past couple of weeks. We’re happy with the three points. We had words with ourselves, we dug deep – we need to be competing in every game.

“What’s let us down has been our aggression, we are normally aggressive on the front foot and that’s when we play at our best.

“I constantly look at myself, I know I‘ve not been at the level I need to be. It’s football, it is unpredictable and that’s why we love it. Sometimes you just have to dig deep. There is a real team spirit, we try to stay compact and see games through. This was a step in the right direction, we don’t look to the title, just win our next games.”