Damning proof Man City have BIG advantage over Liverpool, Chelsea, Man Utd in title race

The Premier League doesn’t restart until September 15 as stars jet off around the world to play for their countries.

City’s rivals for the title – Liverpool, Manchester United, Chelsea, Tottenham and Arsenal – all lose almost all their stars to international duty.

But City have an extraordinary list of key players who are not turning out for their country.

Brazilian quartet Ederson, Danilo, Gabriel Jesus and Fernandinho have all been overlooked for friendlies with United States and El Salvador, which will be played in New Jersey and Washington.

Argentina are also in the States for games against Guatemala and Colombia but Sergio Aguero and Nicolas Otamendi have been left out.

Jorge Sampaoli was sacked as Argentina boss after the World Cup and interim-boss Lionel Scaloni has overlooked the City pair.

World Cup winners France will call on the likes of Paul Pogba of Manchester United and Chelsea’s N’Golo Kante and Olivier Giroud – but Aymeric Laporte and Eliaquim Mangala are both missing.

David Silva has retired from international duty with Spain while Raheem Sterling has withdrawn from the England squad due to a back problem.

The 23-year-old has won 44 caps for his country, scoring twice, and made six appearances at the World Cup in the summer as England reached the semi-finals.

But he and his team-mates will now get an extended rest ahead of the Fulham clash on September 15.

Liverpool, meanwhile, have more than 20 players on international duty including Alisson, Virgil van Dijk, Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino.

Tottenham and Arsenal too have a host of players flying around the world as do Manchester United – although Alexis Sanchez is going nowhere.

Sanchez dropped out of Chile’s squad to face Japan and South Korea with their coach Reinaldo Rueda claiming pressure had been exerted by the Reds.

But that’s been refuted by Jose Mourinho, who said: ““I didn’t ask Alexis – and I never ask players not to go away.

“I also never contact national teams for players not to go. It’s a personal thing between him and the national manager.

“At the same time, coming from injury, Alexis feels that for him it is a much-needed two weeks off.

“He is still in conditions to play against Burnley but he feels that after that he needs two weeks to put himself in good shape.

“And because they are friendly matches in Asia, they made a decision for his good and by consequence for our good.”

HOW MANY PLAYERS WHO STARTED LAST PREMIER LEAGUE GAME ARE NOT ON INTERNATIONAL DUTY?

SEVEN

Man City – Ederson, Aymeric Laporte, Fernandinho, David Silva, Raheem Sterling, Sergio Aguero, Gabriel Jesus

SIX

Arsenal – Petr Cech, Hector Bellerin, Shkodran Mustafi, Mesut Ozil, Matteo Guendouzi, Alexandre Lacazette

THREE

Chelsea – Cesar Azpilicueta, David Luiz, Antonio Rudiger

TWO

Man Utd – Chris Smalling, Alexis Sanchez

Tottenham – Michel Vorm, Lucas Moura

ONE

Liverpool – James Milner