An NFL match at Wembley a day before Manchester City take on Tottenham in the Premier League gives Kevin De Bruyne cause for concern.
Kevin De Bruyne is concerned over the potential state of the Wembley pitch when Manchester City take on Tottenham on Monday.
The Premier League leaders make the latest step in their title defence in a crunch clash with Spurs that takes place at England's national stadium a day after the NFL meeting between the Jacksonville Jaguars and Philadelphia Eagles.
City's smooth passing game appeared close to its peak in the supreme 3-0 win over Shakhtar Donetsk on Tuesday, but Belgium midfielder De Bruyne acknowledges things could be different against Mauricio Pochettino's men.
Spurs are just two points behind City within a congested top five after making an impressive start to the domestic campaign despite delays over moving into their new stadium – a situation that caused the problematic scheduling of next week's match.
"We have played on an NFL pitch before in pre-season and it's not nice," De Bruyne told reporters. "It's going to be difficult.
"I'm not sure how it's going to be. We hope it will be okay and we can play like we normally do.
"These games [against the other top teams] are the most important ones. We have to go there and show our intent to stay on top.
"They will try to do the same because they are close [in the table and on points]. It's a big one."
De Bruyne made his first start of the season against Shakhtar after suffering a lateral collateral knee ligament injury in training and City's 2017-18 Player of the Year has not been surprised to see his team-mates thrive in his absence.
"I prefer to play than be on the sidelines, that's for sure. I've worked hard to get back as quickly as possible and then you try to get back with the rhythm of the team," he said.
"It went well with the injury. There were not a lot of complications. I've worked hard to be back and I'm happy to be here.
"The team have done well without me. Obviously, most were games that we should have won, but we've done really well.
"We've only lost to Lyon, so we've been fine. But, to be honest, I didn't expect anything less."
DVVOS
0
That is just the nfl trying to make more money. Trust me we don’t want our teams traveling overseas to play, and as a city fan right now I don’t like it either knowing we have to play on that pitch tomorrow. Hopefully the grounds keepers can perform a miracle so we can play our beautiful football. Cmon city
👍
DVVOS
0
That is just the nfl trying to make more money. Trust me we don’t want our teams traveling overseas to play, and as a city fan right now I don’t like it either knowing we have to play on that pitch tomorrow. Hopefully the grounds keepers can perform a miracle so we can play our beautiful football. Cmon city
👍👍
City12345
0
That still doesn’t mean there is demand for the sport elsewhere
That is just the nfl trying to make more money. Trust me we don’t want our teams traveling overseas to play, and as a city fan right now I don’t like it either knowing we have to play on that pitch tomorrow. Hopefully the grounds keepers can perform a miracle so we can play our beautiful football. Cmon city
DVVOS
0
That is because there is one dominant league because Americans main sport is football. And soccer (football) is “more popular” because there are more leagues and countries that have that as their main sport so they basically worship it, where in America, baseball, football, basketball are all big sports for us so it’s a bit more diverse. And soccer (football) is growing here as well
That still doesn’t mean there is demand for the sport elsewhere
City12345
0
That’s doesn’t mean people will go regularly. To me I don’t see much demand for this sport outside of USA or Canada.
That is because there is one dominant league because Americans main sport is football. And soccer (football) is “more popular” because there are more leagues and countries that have that as their main sport so they basically worship it, where in America, baseball, football, basketball are all big sports for us so it’s a bit more diverse. And soccer (football) is growing here as well
DVVOS
0
Haha bro the nfl has a contract for 10 years to play games at wembley and tottenhams new stadium when it’s open, at least 5/6 games a season
That’s doesn’t mean people will go regularly. To me I don’t see much demand for this sport outside of USA or Canada.
DVVOS
0
And it’s unfortunate to be arguing with another city fan as I am one as well but you can’t call our football a knockoff sport when the Super Bowl is the second most watched game behind the World Cup final, respect other sports bro, if you want to say American football is a knockoff sport then I might as well tell you that rugby is knockoff of American football
I don’t understand how rugby can be a knockoff of American Football. American Football is an Americanized version of rugby. American made some big changes to the sport of rugby and called it gridiron and then changed it to football (which we call American Football). The super bowl part though. Tennis gets more viewership, Cricket gets more Viewership, and Basketball gets more viewership. And not just the World Cup finals, El Clasico gets more viewership, Champions league finals gets more viewership.
yimacept
2
i wish de team all de best
City12345
0
Because people go their curiously looking for something new. But it won’t be a regular thing
And it’s unfortunate to be arguing with another city fan as I am one as well but you can’t call our football a knockoff sport when the Super Bowl is the second most watched game behind the World Cup final, respect other sports bro, if you want to say American football is a knockoff sport then I might as well tell you that rugby is knockoff of American football
City12345
0
Because people go their curiously looking for something new. But it won’t be a regular thing
Haha bro the nfl has a contract for 10 years to play games at wembley and tottenhams new stadium when it’s open, at least 5/6 games a season
DVVOS
0
But you all sell out wembley every time for the games😂
Because people go their curiously looking for something new. But it won’t be a regular thing
Nehbcdksty
0
KDB the best player to watch his football
odanerussell
7
KDB is the best midfielder in the world
cohbelsz
4
The Wembley Pitch was bad even during Spurs Vs Barca due to boxing match previous day.
City12345
2
American should keep their knockoff sports to themselves
But you all sell out wembley every time for the games😂
DVVOS
10
American should keep their knockoff sports to themselves
madcow
7
The best midfielder in the world!