Arsenal travel to Manchester City in the late kick-off in the Premier League on Wednesday, with Sheffield United’s visit to Aston Villa marking the official return to action earlier in the day.
The second-placed Sky Blues will have a busy schedule with 10 games to play, as the league crams in the remaining fixtures within a short period of time.
The season is due to conclude on July 26, meaning Guardiola is concerned by the potential for injuries to his squad, given they’ll squeeze 10 games into 39 days.
“We are ready to play one game, but three days after another and four days after another…we are not ready,” Guardiola said.
“We have to rotate and use all the players. The players are in naturally good physical condition.
“You can play two weeks’ holiday - but not three months but we have to start the season.”
The match marks Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta’s return to City where he served as an assistant to Guardiola from 2016 to 2019.
“He is an incredibly important part of our recent success,” Guardiola said.
“He helped us be who we are and thats why he knows us. We are delighted for him to come back.”
Arteta has a few problems of his own, namely trying to ensure star strike Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang re-signs with the club amid speculation he could leave in the off-season given his ambition.
“I think it is our responsibility to make him feel this is the right next step in his career,” the Spaniard said.
“In order to do that, he needs to feel valued, he needs to feel he belongs to us and we want him, and then he really needs to believe that we can take the club forward in the way we want to do, and he is going to be a key player to do that.
“At the moment I am extremely happy with how he has been performing and behaving, I have a really good relationship with him where we can discuss face to face a lot of things.
“As far as I am aware, he is very happy at the club.”