TL:DR
- Pep Guardiola calls Arsenal the ‘best team in the world.’
- Manchester City are winless in four league games, including a 2-0 derby loss to Manchester United.
- City aim to reduce Arsenal’s seven-point lead when they host Wolves.
- Guardiola acknowledges the challenge of closing the gap due to Arsenal’s strong current form.
- New signing Marc Guehi is expected to debut but Guardiola stresses fragility won’t be solved by one player.
Pep Guardiola makes ‘best in the world’ claim as Man City hunt Arsenal | Football
Pep Guardiola believes Arsenal are the ‘best team in the world’ and insists his Manchester City side face a daunting task in overturning their lead at the top of the premier league.
City are winless in their last four league games, drawing three in a row before their 2-0 derby defeat to Manchester United last weekend.
A surprise midweek Champions League defeat to Bodo/Glimt only worsened the mood around the Etihad, and means City have won just two of their seven matches since the turn of the year.
By contrast, Arsenal are unbeaten in their last 12 games in all competitions, and stretched their lead at the top of the table to seven points with a goalless draw at Nottingham Forest last weekend.
City do have the opportunity to cut that lead to four points when they host Wolves on Saturday, and apply pressure on Arsenal ahead of their clash with United on Sunday.
Guardiola’s side have chased down Mikel Arteta’s side to win the league in previous years, but the City boss admitted it will be all the more challenging this year, given Arsenal’s supreme form on all fronts.
‘Absolutely (it will be harder), they are the best team in the world right now,’ Guardiola said in his pre-match press conference when asked about the challenge of catching Arsenal in the title race.
‘Look in the Champions League, look in the Premier League, look in FA Cup, Carabao Cup so they are best team right now.
‘Hopefully, we can be close, and getting better and give ourselves one chance to catch them.’
Despite his side’s mixed performances in recent weeks, Guardiola retained full faith in his squad, adding: ‘I have an extraordinary team and an extraordinary group of players.
‘We are all together, and we are a fantastic, fantastic football team. I don’t have any doubts about that.’
Injuries to Josko Gvardial and Ruben Dias have forced City back into the market, with Marc Guehi arriving from Crystal Palace for a fee of around £20million.
The England international is set to make his City debut at the weekend, but Guardiola was keen to stress that the defender will not be the magic cure to all of his side’s problems.
‘The fragility I know how it will be solved, the fragility is not going to be solved by just one player,’ he said.
‘It’s going to help us because the experience of Marc is exceptional. He’s a player for the England national team, a captain for a team that won the FA Cup last season.
‘But fragility is not just about one player. It would be nice but it’s not just about that. I know what is the solution to make us not have that fragility. The players know it.’