Man City manager Pep Guardiola issues threat to Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal ahead of crunch clash
Pep Guardiola says Arsenal will have to “fight until the last day” to win the Premier League title from Manchester City.
Tonight at the Emirates, the reigning champions will face the current league leaders in a pivotal matchup that could see City take the lead.
But Guardiola insisted that whatever the outcome in north London, City are not about to give up their crown easily. “If they beat us because they are better then this is sport, I’ll be the first to congratulate them, as I’ve always done,” he said.
“But if you want it? OK, fight. Take it. It’s in our hands and we’ll defend this title until the last day. This is what I’d like. To fight to the maximum to try to retain the title.” Guardiola admitted City’s focus has slipped after back-to-back successes but said he has seen signs recently that his side are getting back into a title-winning rhythm.
“It’s impossible to win two leagues and every day to be perfect. Sometimes it happens naturally,” he said. “The opponents get better and have a big dream to win something that hasn’t happened for a long time. Arsenal has an incredible history, bigger than us in terms of titles.
“But not recently. They do have something special that we don’t have because we won it recently. So we have to find another trick, other ways, to find the fire as a team and individually to say that we can still do it.
“If we didn’t have that, we wouldn’t be second. We’d be far, far away but we are still there.” City can go top on goal difference with victory at the Emirates tonight but Arsenal have a game in hand.
And Guardiola is hopeful that his leading scorer with 25 goals, Erling Haaland, will be cleared to play after Tuesday’s practice. Guardiola also expressed his eagerness to meet Oleksandr Zinchenko after the Ukraine international’s summer transfer to Arsenal.
“He was an important figure in our club. I think everyone here is in love with him!” said the City boss. “At the end there were reasons (why he moved) and Mikel Arteta knew him well because they worked together.
“He believed he could be this piece to try and make the process (at Arsenal) a little bit better. I’m happy for him that it’s going well.”
Man City manager Pep Guardiola issues threat to Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal ahead of crunch clash
