Healthy competition at Man City is important, says Marmoush

Manchester, Aug 23 (IANS) Omar Marmoush says it’s important to have competition for places in the Manchester City squad if they are to compete for trophies.

City return to the Etihad Stadium on Saturday for the eagerly anticipated Premier League clash with Tottenham.

Pep Guardiola has plenty of options to choose from for his starting line-up, following their impressive start to the campaign last weekend when they kicked off with a 4-0 victory at Wolves.

Marmoush was a second half substitute and is ready to make an impact whenever the boss calls on him.

“The competition is very important for all of us – it’s healthy. Whoever plays we of course want the team to be successful and if you come on from the bench, you give 100 per cent and it just pushes the level much higher in the training sessions.

“We always know that someone is waiting for their place to play – it pushes you to be better. It’s healthy," said Marmoush to City's media team.

The City squad was further enhanced in the summer with the arrivals of Tijjani Reijnders, Rayan Ait-Nouri, Rayan Cherki, James Trafford and Marcus Bettinelli.

Marmoush, who joined in January, says they have shown their quality already with three of them featuring at the FIFA Club World Cup, while former Academy goalkeeper Trafford made his City debut at Molineux.

“Since the first day in the training session, we’ve seen their qualities,” he added.

“Ait-Nouri is very good on the ball and is very strong defensively. Tijjani is a box-to-box midfielder and has a big impact on the offensive side. Rayan Cherki has the quality in the tight spaces and has the creativeness.

“Of course, James had a really good game and helped save a good goal. We know their qualities and we’re very happy to have them. Hopefully, we can progress as a team," he added.

--IANS

aaa/