Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Jesus’ battle to be Manchester City’s number one striker is having no effect upon their off-field friendship according to manager Pep Guardiola.
Jesus scored his 10th goal of the season as the Premier League leaders overcame Leicester City 2-0 last weekend.
Aguero was an unused substitute at the King Power Stadium but resumed a starting role at Jesus’ expense in Tuesday’s 1-0 Champions League win over Feyenoord, where he was unable to add to his own 10-goal haul in all competitions.
The duo started the season operating in tandem at the head of City’s attack but have not been named in the same starting XI since Aguero was briefly ruled out by a broken rib suffered in a car accident in September.
Guardiola has labelled choosing between which striker plays inside in-form wingers Raheem Sterling and Leroy Sane as his toughest decision and expects criticism when he gets it wrong.
All eyes will once again be on his teamsheet for Sunday’s trip to Huddersfield Town as City look to restore their eight-point advantage at the Premier League summit, but the former Barcelona boss reports no drop in morale on the part of Aguero or Jesus as they benefit from internal competition.
“I’m pretty sure [I will be criticised for it], especially when we are not going to win, definitely,” he said.
“Now we have a relaxing press conference here but I assure you we are going to lose games and the debates will happen again.
“But they have an amazing relationship. It is not easy to find two strikers to be this close together.
“First of all, Sergio is so experienced and is a really nice guy. And Gabriel as well.
“Of course they want to play and I know when they don’t play they are a little bit sad. But it is the same for the other guys – Danilo is not happy and that is not a problem.”
Guardiola suggested last week that Aguero and Jesus would not start together until attacking left-back Benjamin Mendy returns from a long-term knee injury, allowing him to field a narrow front three once more.
He rowed his position back in this regard, meaning Huddersfield could be in for a dose of double trouble.
“They are going to play together as well – with Mendy or without Mendy,” Guardiola added. “Until now I decided to play in this way [with one striker] and, out of respect for the other one, they have to know they have to play good.
“They have to compete with each other, with another guy with the same level. They are going to play many, many games without Benjamin because they can play together.
“We can play with two strikers together in the middle. We did that in the last 10 minutes against Feyenoord. Of course we can use that.”
