Pep Guardiola has made a comment about Arsenal ahead of his side’s 12:30pm kick-off at the Etihad Stadium.
What’s the story?
Well, the Spaniard finds himself eight points behind the Gunners as we begin this weekend’s round of Premier League fixtures.
Clearly – despite the task of taking on Jürgen Klopp presenting itself before him – Guardiola was unable to entirely shift Arsenal out of his mind.
Speaking to BT Sport ahead of the clash with Liverpool, the 52-year-old said: “There are a lot of games of football left and a lot of things can happen. We don’t feel as though Arsenal will drop many points but hopefully we can be there as long as possible.
“I would love to be in Arsenal’s position but until the last moment we will fight.”
Guardiola can close the gap on his pal Mikel Arteta to five points if he manages to defeat Liverpool.
However, Arsenal have the chance to rebuild that advantage if they can take three points against Leeds United at the Emirates Stadium this afternoon.
Guardiola has one advantage over Arsenal
In our view – despite Guardiola’s insistence of the opposite – some at Manchester City may actually prefer to be behind Arsenal at this stage of the Premier League title race.
As things stand, all of the pressure is on Arsenal to keep winning games with the Citizens breathing down their necks.
Guardiola’s side can go into matches with the pressure off and play their natural game, whereas Arsenal could become a little bit nervous knowing they have no choice but to pick up three points every week.
Of course, an eight point lead sounds nice, but it will only take two defeats for the Gunners and two wins for Manchester City for the situation to change drastically.
Whatever happens, it is sure to be a very entertaining title race between two sides packed with quality in every area.
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