Key Takeaways
- Pep Guardiola says City must repeat their Carabao Cup final second-half display for the full game to beat Arsenal on Sunday.
- An Arsenal win would open a nine-point gap and end a 22-year title drought, a pressure Guardiola calls a “mental aspect”.
- Rúben Dias is still out for City, but Nico O’Reilly is fit after scoring twice at Wembley last month.
Pep Guardiola believes the biggest threat to Manchester City on Sunday may not be Arsenal’s passing, but the Gunners’ desperation to end 22 years without a league crown.
Speaking before the Etihad showdown, the City boss said his players must copy the control they showed after half-time in last month’s Carabao Cup final, when Nico O’Reilly’s double overturned an early Arsenal spell on top.
“If we play the full 95 minutes like we did in the second half at Wembley, and they stay in that same mood, we win,” Guardiola stated. “But Mikel will change something; I know him. We must be ready.”
Arsenal have not lifted the Premier League trophy since 2004. Guardiola thinks that long wait gives the visitors extra fire. “Twenty-two seasons without the title – that creates a special hunger,” he noted. “If they win, the race is almost finished. That mental edge matters.”
City trail the leaders by six points and have a game in hand. Victory would cut the gap to three, yet Guardiola refuses to call the match a title decider. “The Carabao Cup was nice, but the league is a different story,” he said.
Despite criticism of Arsenal’s cautious style, the Catalan says he enjoys studying Arteta’s team. “People demand beautiful football, but winning is what counts. I watch them and learn.”
Rúben Dias is still nursing an injury, while O’Reilly, the two-goal hero from Wembley, is ready to feature again.