How's Rice?

I have to be very vague on that one because there's no clarity if he’s going to be fit or not on the weekend.

There's been reports he has a broken toe…

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That's for the doctor. What I can say is he hasn't trained yet and it's not clear if he'll be available or not to play.

Could Odegaard start?

Everybody in the squad will be fit and available to start the game. So then it will be a decision on whether it's too early or whether it's the right moment to start the game.

How's Kai and Merino?

We will have to wait to see how they react. Kai had a nasty cut and he could not continue so we had to take him off. With Mikel he wasn't feeling great since the day before so we decided to sub him at half time.

Have you had to lift the players this week?

When you don't win it affects the energy. The positive thing is there is nobody outside who wants to win more than me or those players. It is impossible. That desire, today I had a meeting about it and I could sense it straight away and the belief about how good we are as a team. What we did in Milan, having watched it back twice, I haven't seen a team doing that against them.

But you need to take that into winning a football match. That's the only thing that people are going to judge. You can overrun the opponent you can outperform the opponent in every single way. It's about whether you scored a goal. That's the problem. The problem has to be resolved by scoring more goals than the opponents. That's it.

You had a bad run last season and bounced back well. Have you reminded the players of that?

The results were very similar, but the context was very different. You tend to forget why you lost a football match - for example Bournemouth or what happened and why we didn't win against Liverpool and the amount of situations that we've had to go through.

It does not matter. At the end we cannot go to Dubai for a week again. We can maybe go for two days and fly back and forth if that's the solution!

The team is doing 10 times more better things than we used to do in that period. That’s the positive thing. For all this to be clear and relevant we have to win. Especially to answer certain questions.

Is this a must win?

Because we have missed certain points in the last few weeks so the margins become smaller and smaller. It doesn't mean the margins don't exist any more but there is more of a demand for perfection in the future.

For sure we want to win. We have prepared the game to win it. That's the only thing in our heads.

What have you made of Chelsea’s progress?

Really impressed by what Enzo's done, but really impressed by what they’ve done over the past year. With Mauricio as well in the last six months they were extraordinary. You could see the squad and the quality that they have.

Then Enzo has given his touch and you can see clearly what he wants to do. I think he has been very brave from day one to consistently follow what he wanted to do. I know what he thinks and I know a lot of people that know him well and are very happy with him that he's making a lot of progress there.

Are Chelsea in the title race because they’re above you on goal difference?

Everything is important. I don't know if we'll get to the last day when the goal difference is important. It's certainly something to bear in mind.

How do you stop Cole Palmer?

That's a question that all the managers in the league have had in the last year or so and he's still managed to impact games in the right way. We will have a plan not just for Cole but to try minimise their threats qualities and to try and exploit all their weaknesses. Like any other team.

Is the title race out of your hands if you don't win on Sunday?

I don't think about that.

You said nobody wants to win more…

I promise you that. Nobody worked harder than me or these guys to achieve that. Talking maybe yes, but actually working and making sure that this is going to happen, nobody. I guarantee you that.

Have you had to hit the reset button this week?

We don't need a reset. We need in one particular aspect to go from 95 to 100. I won't tell you what that is.

Go on…

No.

Everyone except Liverpool has been inconsistent this season. Why is that?

I think everybody has been consistently struggling with the level there is in this league and playing in Europe every three days at that level. The temperature has gone up another level, the level has gone up another level.

I would put my fingers here and say I don't think anybody is going to do 100 points this year. It will require perfection to keep winning. Even the teams that have been winning the margins have been like this *mimes a tiny gap* and the moments have been like this *mimes a tiny gap*. So it's very tough, but this is the task.

Are the margins between the smaller and bigger clubs getting smaller?

I think so yeah.

Do you think the margins between the smaller clubs and top teams is getting smaller by the season?

Yes.

Have we reached a time where we need bigger squads in the Premier League?

With actual regulation, I think it's very difficult.

Would you like to see bigger squads?

Well, if we play every three days, with the amount of games we have to play, it's going to be a necessity.

Can you put a number on it?

The number and the quality of that squad is going to be the key, not just the number [alone]. You can have numbers from all kinds of players, you can throw in a lot of names, but it's about the quality of that squad.

Does there need to be an appreciation that Martin can't just wave a magic wand and fix everything?

No, I think demanding that is not very realistic. It's about the collective and every player taking ownership of what we have to do in attack and doing it better more consistently. But certainly, having a player like Martin helps because he's shown how important he's been for us in the last two-three years.

At the start of the year, you spoke about showing players clips of body language and reactions to missing chances. Is that something you see as a big part of the game, how the team reacts to struggles?

There are various ways. The results in the last two games, let's leave Bournemouth away because that's a very different context to that, but the problem is quite well identified and very resolvable.

Martin wasn't named in the Norway squad but could he still join up with them?

Let's see how he goes, how he trains tomorrow. He's available, he's fit, if he does play, how he feels after that and then we will make the decision between the three parties.

While Martin's been out, has he still been prominent around the squad with his messaging and motivation?

Yes, he's always very close and active with the team. He knows the role and responsibilities he has. He tried his best but not having him in the squad, in the hotel with us on many occasions, it is different. But the team, when we talk about motivation, had no issues at all.

This idea that when he comes in the team will click, is that too simplistic a way to look at it?

We hope that is going to help because he's been incredibly good for us. Not only the impact he has on the team in that phase, but in other phases that are so linked to the attacking phase. Especially the way we transition from on to the other. He's been out for a while, so let’s hope he can impact the team very quickly. That's the way I think.

There's been a perception in recent years that if you lose one or two games, that's it because of City's consistency but do you feel it's different this year and have you told the players one or two results is not a catastrophe?

We don't know how it's going to play out, if there is a team that is able to do something like this [City's consistency]. Everybody is struggling, even if they're winning. That's the thing, sometimes the margins were bigger in games. They're not at the moment. I've not seen a team being that superior to other teams, but at the end the fact is you have to win and find ways and details to keep the right to win games.

How important is the togetherness of the players?

That's the joy of this team. You go in there this morning thinking, 'how are they going to feel after that?' And they are there. They are paying attention, they are hungry, they want to do more. The desire and togetherness they have is just a joy to work with.

Fourth away game in a row. What have you felt from the support?

The fans have been incredible. The way they follow and support the team. Unfortunately the last two we haven't had the chance to bring the victory with us, so the London derby is a good place.

Away from home, you had a good record last season but this season you haven't scored away since Man City and you've had the second-lowest number of shots of any team in the league. Is that a lack of creativity or something else?

There are other things like the level of opposition we have played, that's for sure. Nobody has played the amount of away games that we have this season, and certainly not in the condition of playing half of those with 10 men. Nobody in the league.

Is the plan now to go back to a 4-3-3?

We had to adapt a lot of things this season because we had a lot of injuries and situations, especially in the backline and midfield. It’s something the team is learning and adapting to and it has worked really well. At other times, something has been missing because it's going to be different, but the team certainly has the capacity to do that.

At the start you said there are 10 things the team are doing better than this time last year, care to share any?

Yeah, if I compare how we played against Porto and Bayern Munich to Inter Milan away in Europe, there is no comparison whatsoever. And not in 10, probably 20 aspects of the game. Having the post-match review after that it is very clear. The thing is that you need that result there. At the end the outcome was the same, it should have been very different, but this is football, that's the beauty of it. Even when you do that, you scratch your head, get very frustration and think how the hell haven’t we won that game but there are a few aspects to that.

You've brought on Ethan and Alex on at the same time together against Newcastle and Inter, how do they change the dynamic when they come on at the same time?

The state of the two games were a bit different. We lost control against Newcastle and there are certain spaces that I believe those two players are ideal [to exploit]. We never got momentum with it. With Inter it was a bit different and a bit better. We need to understand how we can change games.

For this upcoming match your playing a Chelsea team with a different playing style to last season under Enzo Maresca, how are you/have you prepared yourself/the squad tactically for Sunday?

They are a rival who are very dominant, who are very well prepared, very well taught. Who have their concepts and intentions very clear over everything that they want to do with the ball and when they loose the ball. And then we're doing our own thing, preparing how we always do, paying much more attention to ourselves over our rivals. Which I believe is a characteristic that is really important for how we will we take the match.

Have you done anything different in training with the team?

This week we haven't trained. We've played in Milan, we haven't had time to train. This morning we have trained a bit but only with 4/5 players who didn't play in Milan.

So your only preparation is what you've done in Milan and this morning?

And tomorrow, tomorrow we will have time to train a bit, yes.