Pep Guardiola gives ‘fatty’ warning as he weighs Man City players over Christmas

Pep Guardiola has weighed his players and warned them not to over-indulge at Christmas.

The Manchester City manager has made clear that any member of the squad who returns from a short festive break out of condition will not be involved at Nottingham Forest next week.

Guardiola even refused his players a day off after Saturday’s comfortable Premier League victory over West Ham to make sure the message hit home.

The Spaniard was not happy with the level of performance, even though the 3-0 success – their fifth league victory in succession – kept the pressure on leaders Arsenal and even took them top for a few hours.

Guardiola said: “The players asked me to take a day off. I said, ‘No because you didn’t play good enough’.

“So Sunday recovery, train the guys that didn’t play, and after three days off they have two days to prepare for Nottingham Forest.

“Every player makes a weight. They come back on the 25th and I will be there controlling how many kilos come up, (to see if) they come fatty.

“The moment they arrive after three days I want to see how they come back. They can eat but I want to control them.

“I have to make a selection for (December) 27 against Nottingham Forest.

“Imagine one player and now he’s perfect but he will arrive with three kilos more. He will (stay) in Manchester. He will not travel to Nottingham Forest.”

Guardiola did point out that he currently saw “everything perfect” in terms of fitness, and it was other aspects of the display against the Hammers that bothered him.

He said: “The problem is not running. One of the attributes of my teams since I started in Barcelona B until now is that we run like an animal, but it’s not enough. We have to play better.”

Despite that, Guardiola does feel it is