Pep Guardiola forces Man City stars to SLEEP at club’s training ground ahead of Boxing Day clash with Everton

After just one win in 12 games in all competitions, Guardiola is desperate for his side to return to title-challenging form at home to Everton on Boxing Day.

A meeting against Sean Dyche's side, 15th in the table, affords City the chance to arrest an alarming run of form that has seen them fall out of the title race.

Ahead of the game, Guardiola revealed his plan for the squad to sleep at the Etihad Campus on Christmas night. The base has 80 bedrooms, with the cost of mattresses and pillows reaching £150,000 according to the Daily Mail.

Guardiola said: "We train today (Tuesday), we train tomorrow (Wednesday) night, we will stay over here and we are going to play on Boxing Day. Hopefully they want to be here, because it’s our job. This situation is new for all of us. It’s about us, everyone. The guys are running and making an effort more than ever.

"People say we are not running, fighting, it’s this player, this manager - it is not about that. It is about many little details or some big details that make us not as good as we were. But we have another opportunity on Boxing Day. We have players coming back and at a certain time we will be better."

Manchester City are on their worst run of form since 2004, back when Kevin Keegan was manager. In this spell, they went 15 games without a win in all competitions.

City face a Toffees side that has kept three clean sheets in a row, including against title challengers Arsenal and Chelsea.