Maresca: Sunderland Is City's Toughest Test So Far

Enzo Maresca has told reporters that Sunderland will pose City's toughest test of the season so far, ranking Sunday's visit to the Etihad above the Manchester derby and the meeting with Arsenal.

"I watched them already in the last two days, three or four games. I know them already," Maresca said. "I know how strong they are, and I have the feeling that on Sunday we need a top performance to beat them, and we need to be 100 per cent to win the game."

City have won every Premier League fixture so far this season and go into round five looking to protect that record. Maresca's only defeat since taking over came in the Community Shield, a 3-0 loss to Arsenal, and

Kick-off at the Etihad is at 16:00 Moscow time on 20 September.

Maresca also addressed the scale of the rebuild he inherited at City, with Rodri, Bernardo Silva, John Stones and Nathan Aké all departing after Pep Guardiola's decade in charge. "I knew that the club was in a moment of change after 10 years with the same manager," he said. "It's normal that there is a change, but at the same time, I'm quite confident that we can do a good job." Bernardo Silva has since moved on to Real Madrid and Aké to Fenerbahçe, underlining how far City's squad has turned over since the summer.

On Thursday's Carabao Cup win over Norwich, in which he rotated heavily, Maresca said the rest given to players who had featured in back-to-back matches against Porto and Manchester United was "very important" ahead of the Sunderland game.