Enzo Maresca has a seven-game Premier League record to protect and a squad to keep fresh. The two priorities collide on Wednesday night.

From record-breaker to damage limitation

Two weeks ago, the Italian was the first manager in Premier League history to win his opening seven fixtures, sealed by a 3-2 victory over Ipswich Town. Liverpool and Manchester United were among the scalps. Eleven wins from 15 matches as City boss reads well on paper.

The paper has since curled at the edges. City have failed to win in regulation time across their last three outings, starting with a damaging defeat at Aston Villa. Back-to-back meetings with Brighton brought a penalty shootout success in the Carabao Cup, then a Premier League loss four days ago.

Maresca, 46, is not reaching for panic. He is reaching for perspective — the kind that arrives when February, March and April are still on the horizon.

"But it's also very important to arrive in February, March and April - when things are going to be more exciting - to have all of them fit."

He has 20 senior players to manage across a congested fixture list. "We have many games in all competitions and 20 senior players, all of them very good," he said. The arithmetic is straightforward enough.

Foden finds his rhythm

Phil Foden scored the opener against Ipswich and then helped himself to a hat-trick in the Champions League against AEK Athens. The Stockport-born attacker is 26 now, and his manager likes what he sees.

"I see Phil day by day better and better for sure, 100%."

Maresca added: "I'm very happy in the way Phil is working every day." There is competition in his position — Rayan Cherki, who lit up the AEK game with a performance not too dissimilar to Foden's, is "more or less in the same position" according to the manager. Elliot Anderson also scored his first City goal that night, a £116 million summer arrival from Nottingham Forest beginning to look settled.

Wednesday brings RB Leipzig, fourth in the German top flight. The last meeting between the clubs came in 2023/24, when Pep Guardiola's side won 3-1 away before a 3-2 victory at the Etihad a week later. Foden scored in both.

A repeat would do nicely. A marathon, after all, is not won in November.