'Not afraid' - Jesse Marsch eyes Manchester City 'weakness' and reasons for Leeds United hope

Leeds will finally return to Premier League action after the six-week break for the World Cup when Guardiola's defending champions and odds-on title favourites City arrive at Elland Road on Wednesday for an 8pm kick-off. City had 16 players representing the club at the Qatar World Cup as opposed to United's three but only one City player in Argentina's Julian Alvarez made it to the final four.

United's USA international duo Tyler Adams and Brenden Aaronson got to the round of 16 before being eliminated at the same stage at which City's Aymeric Laporte and Rodri exited the competition with Spain in addition to Manuel Akanji with Switzerland.

Leeds defender Rasmus Kristensen went out in the group stages with Denmark but the same fate was suffered by City stars Kevin De Bruyne with Belgium and Ilkay Gundogan with Germany. Marsch only hoped a few more City stars had gone a little further to give Leeds a potential extra fitness advantage in Wednesday night's return to action at Elland Road.

Ten other City players exited in the quarter-finals in the shape of Ederson with Brazil and Nathan Ake with the Netherlands plus Joao Cancelo, Ruben Dias and Bernardo Silva with Portugal and then a quintet with England in Phil Foden, Jack Grealish, Kalvin Phillips, John Stones and Kyle Walker.

Ten of City's World Cup stars returned with a bang to help the side beat Liverpool upon last Thursday's return to action in the Carabao Cup in which Erling Haaland and Riyad Mahrez both started following a six week rest due to Norway and Algeria respectively failing to qualify for Qatar.

Marsch admits City's squad is one of the best in the world - if not the best – and definitely, in his view, under the best manager in the same. Marsch, though, is still upbeat about his side's chances with against-all-odds victories against the likes of Liverpool and Chelsea still fresh in the memory in addition to strong displays in defeat against Arsenal and Tottenham.

"I would have hoped that more of the Man City players would have gone deeper in the tournament!" quipped Marsch. "But obviously the tournament is so competitive that it's not easy. They just have such a great squad and for me the best manager in the world, a very difficult playing style to prepare for and then when you introduce the quality that they have on the pitch, it becomes a monumental task.

"The good thing about our team now is that we're not afraid of the biggest opponents and we've proven that not only can we play with them on the day, but that we can find ways to get points. So we'll use that motivation but we'll also have to have a very clear match plan and discipline and execution on the day to give ourselves a chance and we know that.

"The first day we got together I said the standard of everything we do from here on it has to be with Man City, the best team in the world, in mind, or one of the best teams in the world, and I think that the attention to detail and concentration from the group has been as such for such a challenge. We're excited.”

Leeds played City in Marsch's 13th game in charge last April when Guardiola's side raced to a 4-0 victory at Elland Road through strikes from Rodri, Nathan Ake, Gabriel Jesus and Fernandinho. Marsch, though, has explained why his Whites can actually take heart from that particular contest - and a rare reverse for City before the World Cup break.

"Actually, I think we can take positives from last year," reasoned the Whites boss. “I think we played actually quite well and we gave up two set piece goals and then went down 2-0 and then gave up two late goals. Now it wasn't good enough and I think we've progressed a lot since then and we believe that we can get more from it.

"When we had to play the three giants in a row last year I think it was just about survival, I think now it's more about can we be better on the day and we know that against some of these opponents that we have been able to manage that.

"So really huge respect for Man City and the way they play and the quality they have and the mentality they have but we also saw right before the break that Brentford at Man City on the day could do the things that they wanted and managed to get the points, so that'll be our focus."

Asked if there was a way to set up against a team who dominate the ball but are also so good out of possession as well, Marsch reasoned: "Yes. Whatever opponent we play against, we look at their strengths and weaknesses and we then try to address that within our principles, where we think we can find advantages on the day. I think we've done a good job with that this season in almost every match and certainly against some of the big opponents.

"The key for us will be, when you play a team like Man City, it's understanding the tactics and then what they're trying to achieve and how to negate that and then obviously understanding the qualities of the players that they have because on their team they have such high quality but also how to make them uncomfortable, with and against the ball and set pieces, and in what areas you think you can make them susceptible. Obviously, the better the team, the fewer weaknesses they have. But every team and every system has weaknesses and so it'll be about exploiting those and playing in those areas."