Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola says that the match against Arsenal will be very difficult.
Mikel Arteta’s squad travel to the Etihad Stadium after dropping six points in two weeks thanks to a streak of three straight draws.
That leaves Manchester City in pole position to win the Premier League for the fifth time in six years, but Guardiola insists he would prefer to face an Arsenal side in form.
“Always, I felt it would be very difficult to play them at this stage, but after three games dropping points, now it will be much more difficult,” Guardiola said at a press conference on Tuesday, as quoted by ESPN.
“I would prefer if they came here with a better result than the last three results, they didn’t win a single game,” he continued,
“So it’s always going to be difficult, but with this result it’s even more difficult.”
Manchester City have won their last 11 league games against Arsenal by an aggregate score of 29-4 while the Gunners’ last win at the Etihad came more than eight years ago in January 2015.
Arsenal have lost twice to Manhester City this season but Guardiola says he will still be nervous ahead of kickoff on Thursday.
“It’s a good sign, a bit nervous,” said Guardiola.
“When I get that feeling, I know it’s normal. The problem is if I don’t have that feeling,” Guardiola continued.
“At the same time, after the game, whatever happens, good or bad or whatever you say ‘it’s just part of the game’ and we look to the next one, and I love going through… this kind of adrenaline rush, I’ll say it would be better to define this, the adrenaline you have.
“But in the end, I slept pretty well. It was not a problem,” he continued.
Guardiola does have problems ahead of a crucial match, with Nathan Ake out with a hamstring injury.
Ake has become City’s regular left-back following Joao Cancelo’s departure to Bayern Munich in January and Guardiola is likely to choose between Aymeric Laporte and Sergio Gomez to fill the position.
“Hopefully he can come back soon, but [against Arsenal] he was out,” said Guardiola.
“I don’t know about [Champions League semi-final against] Madrid. We will find the right players to do it, I have no doubts about that. We will play with 11 players,” he added.
