Arsenal midfielder Granit Xhaka is not concerned by the number of minutes he has played this season and the risk of injury ahead of the World Cup.
The Switzerland international has started all but one of the Gunners' matches across all competitions this season, combining with Thomas Partey or Albert Sambi Lokonga in midfield.
Xhaka's influence has played a huge part in Arsenal's fine start to the season, including scoring the only goal of the game in Thursday's victory over PSV in the Europa League – sealing qualification for the knockout stages.
A packed schedule ahead of the World Cup, where Switzerland face Brazil, Serbia and Cameroon, will test the fitness limits of players this season, but that does not come into Xhaka's thought process.
"I'm not worried. The staff, the coach, they know how I am physically, how I look after myself. It's not the first time I'm doing this many games in a row, I've done this for the last 13 years," he said.
"I'm feeling very good. Every time you win, it makes it a little easier, but I'm not worried about my fitness, the World Cup or the future.
"I'm 30 years old, I know my body better than before. When you're young, you think differently, whereas now I know my body, what I need. Of course, you have the people around you helping you with the food, with the recovery, at the moment, everything is working well."
Asked if the risk of injury plays on his mind ahead of games, he added: "I don't think like this, I will never think like this when I go onto the pitch.
"This is football, it can happen in one second. You have to put your faith when there is a 50-50 ball. My personality, as people know, I will never go back on that."
With seven games to play before the World Cup, five of which are in the Premier League, Xhaka is aiming for the Arsenal squad to capitalise on their position four points clear at the summit and remain top of the pile for the mid-season halt.
"It has to be the aim. We're there now, we need to be there as long as possible," he said.
"If we have the chance to stay where we are at the moment, then the World Cup comes, maybe it's good for everyone, for us as well, to prepare something else for January."
'I have nothing against him' - Leao brushes off rumours of feud with Fonseca
Rafael Leao has shrugged off suggestions of a feud between him and Milan head coach Paulo Fonseca despite starting fewer games in recent weeks.
The winger started three consecutive Serie A matches on the bench after the last international break, coming on to make substitute appearances in two of those.
He returned to the starting line-up for their 3-3 draw with Cagliari last time out, netting twice in the first half to bring his tally up to three goals for the season, and 50 overall in Serie A.
Leao has also provided three assists in the Italian top-flight, while he has both attempted (36) and completed (24) the most dribbles of any Milan player in the competition.
There were reports of tension between Leao and Fonseca due to the former's lack of playing time in recent weeks, but he brushed off the idea.
"These things happen during the season, I have nothing against him, and he has nothing against me," Leao said while at Portugal's training ground.
"It's all settled. I don't like being on the bench, obviously, but he makes the decisions and I, as a player, have to respect the coach.
"When I step onto the pitch, I have to do my best to help the team."
Leao has also impressed with performances in the Champions League this season, especially against Real Madrid in a 3-1 win, as he registered an assist for their third goal.
However, he has also come under criticism in Italy, with one pundit claiming he has a poor work ethic, suggesting he only puts in effort in big games.
"Clearly, I do not agree with that," Leao added about the recent comments.
"I have been having a great season at Milan but, like everyone else, there are ups and downs. The campaign has only just started. Look, I know that I am not the perfect player and sometimes I can do much better.
"I am not shaken by this criticism. I have people who help me to improve and those are the ones I have to listen to. This criticism just spurs me on to respond on the pitch."
Real Madrid hit Twente for seven, five-star Wolfsburg also win big
Real Madrid had six different goalscorers as they trounced Twente 7-0 in the Women's Champions League on Wednesday, while Wolfsburg beat Galatasaray 5-0.
Signe Bruun opened the scoring three minutes into the Group B encounter at the Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano, then Maria Mendez's header gave Madrid a 2-0 half-time lead.
Madrid, who had won one and lost one of their opening two games in the tournament, got a third through Naomie Feller five minutes into the second half, then Caroline Weir made it 4-0 with a brilliant free-kick.
Mendez headed home her second of the encounter shortly after the hour mark, while Oihane Hernandez and Carla Camacho got on the scoresheet late on to complete the rout.
The victory took Madrid second in the Group B standings ahead of Chelsea's trip to Celtic.
Wolfsburg were also convincing victors in Group A, getting off the mark for this season's competition as Rebecka Blomqvist scored a hat-trick in their 5-0 thrashing of Galatasaray.
The Bundesliga side – who failed to pick up a point or score a goal in their opening two matches – had a narrow 1-0 lead at half-time through Joelle Wedemeyer, before Blomqvist took centre-stage in the second period.
She tapped home after Janina Minge struck the crossbar, then added her second goal in the 77th minute and her third six minutes into stoppage time.
Vivien Endemann powered home a fifth for Wolfsburg one minute later, as they provisionally moved within three points of Lyon and Roma ahead of their meeting.
Taylor pleased with City's physical test during Hammarby win
Manchester City head coach Gareth Taylor was pleased with how his team stood up to the physical challenge of Hammarby in their 2-0 Champions League victory on Tuesday.
City's win extended their unbeaten start to the season, having won every game in all competitions following a 2-2 draw against Arsenal on opening day.
“Difficult game for us, physical challenge, a physical team in Hammarby. I think they outnumber us a little bit in terms of size, considering when you look at our midfield. But I thought the girls handled it really well," Taylor said after the game
“I thought we dominated the game. In the early parts we were just a little bit off in our final action. We just needed to speed up a little bit in terms of being on the end of it, and we spoke about that at half-time, and we score with Laura getting into that type of position we’d been talking about.
“[The physicality was something] we were prepared for, but dealing with it is a different thing. Having Bunny [Khadija Shaw] and Alanna [Kennedy] on the pitch, two of our more physical players, is really important, particularly for set-plays.
“At 1-0 we were defending a couple of scenarios like that, Yama [Ayaka Yamashita] making a really good save at one point. Then Aoba [Fujino] got the goal that maybe allowed us to change things up a little bit more, get some people off that we’d like to manage.
“I think the girls have dealt with it really well tonight. We expected it, we thought it would be difficult, and they rose to the challenge.”
The victory leaves City top of their Champions League group with a 100% record after three matches, three points above second-placed Barcelona.
Taylor had made changes to City's starting XI, with Lauren Hemp among the trio to drop out from the weekend and she did not feature in the squad. Ahead of their weekend game against Chelsea, who are second in the WSL, Taylor explained the reasoning behind Hemp's absence.
“We’ve just got an issue with Lauren that we just need to analyse a little bit further, that’s all," he said.
“It’s something that potentially happened in the Palace game [on 3 November]. She was able to play in the Tottenham game [last Friday] but wasn’t able to tonight, so we’ll just take a little bit longer to assess and find out more.
“Hopefully [she can play against Chelsea]. There’s an opportunity there, we’ll just have to take a moment tomorrow, have a good conversation and find out where we’re at with the medical staff.”
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
