Pep Guardiola, whose side are third and trail leaders Chelsea by seven points, said he consulted his players before taking the decision.
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola will not allow his players time off for Christmas as he wants to ensure they are fully prepared for Monday's English Premier League trip to basement team Hull City.
Guardiola, whose side are third and trail leaders Chelsea by seven points, said he consulted his players before taking the decision.
"They gave me good advice about what it means to play on Boxing Day at Hull City," he told a news conference on Friday.
"We're going to train tomorrow (Saturday) and on the 25th, then get a bus in the afternoon to Hull. We're going to prepare like it's not Christmas."
Captain Vincent Kompany, who has not played since the middle of November, is still out with a knee injury while defender Pablo Zabaleta faces a late fitness test after picking up a knock in the 2-1 win over Arsenal.
Striker Sergio Aguero will serve the last game of a four-match suspension but midfielder Fernandinho has completed a three-match ban.
"What I have learned in my short time here is the gap between the first 10 teams and last 10 is not that big," Guardiola said.
"Other people said before I came here how complicated all the games are, so I am not expecting easy games. We have to be prepared. It's my first year here.
"Hull started quite well. Of course, the situation is not good but I saw many, many games and they are a special team."
United beginning to feel like home for happy Mourinho
Jose Mourinho explained how happy he was with his Manchester United project on Friday, acknowledging that it is "easy to feel at home" with one of the world's biggest clubs.
It was not the most comfortable nor consistent of starts for Mourinho at Old Trafford as he struggled to find his best team and the Portuguese coach often cut a distracted figure as he bemoaned the pitfalls of living alone in his Manchester hotel.
Yet after an impressive spell for his expensively-assembled team, and now with a largely injury-free squad bearing a settled look, Mourinho is looking forward to his first festive season at United with a touch of his old unassailable confidence.
"The people want to be happy again..." Mourinho told a news conference on Friday, with his side sitting in sixth place in the Premier League. "So five or six months here, (I was) really feeling at home so it was quite easy.
"Obviously, expectations are high, results up and down and we are in a position that is not where we want to be, but in terms of passion for my work and my new club, I'm feeling really happy here."
On Monday, former United manager David Moyes, who along with his successor Louis van Gaal found Alex Ferguson too hard an act to follow, makes his return to Old Trafford with his struggling Sunderland team.
Yet though Mourinho faced a similar stuttering start to this most formidable of jobs, he has guided United within four points of the top four in the Premier League and into the last 32 of the Europa League on the back of 10 undefeated matches.
Revealing he had never spoken to Moyes about the United job, Mourinho recalled how he feels about finally landing a role he coveted.
"For me it was a difficult job but easy to feel at home, easy to feel good in the club, easy to feel the club has progressed," he said.
With practically a full squad available to him for the congested holiday programme, Mourinho again queried the fairness of the league's fixture schedule, with United facing a tighter programme than leaders Chelsea, who they trail by 13 points.
"The busy period is for some clubs, not for everyone, because when you analyse, there is no congestion for them (Chelsea)," Mourinho said.
"The fixtures are chosen to give some rest for some and create problems for others but we are used to it because we are in the Europa League, which creates more difficulties. So it is just more of the same."
