Manchester City host Arsenal in a match that could eventually decide the Premier League title race, as Pep Guardiola’s men aim to cut the gap to the Gunners to three points.
City took full advantage of Arsenal’s defeat at home to Bournemouth last Saturday as they won 3-0 at Chelsea, narrowing the deficit to the league leaders to six points, with the North London club having played a game more.
Because of City’s game in hand, a victory over Arsenal in their third meeting of the season could prove to be a telling blow in a compelling fight for the title. Should City prevail and beat Burnley on Wednesday, they will be level on points with Mikel Arteta’s men and will likely have the edge on goal difference.
Though City have the appearance of increasingly likely champions as they aim to reel Arsenal in, Guardiola does not believe his side are yet at the required levels to regain the title.
“We need to get even better. The first half against Chelsea was not bad but not great,” Guardiola said at his pre-match press conference.
“The first 30 minutes against Liverpool [in the FA Cup] was not good either. The first 30 minutes against Arsenal in the [EFL Cup] final they were better.
“You cannot pretend that these kind of teams will be 90/95 minutes perfect, but this one aspect is not about the future, present or past, it’s about confidence, which is an incredible aspect.
“If you could buy confidence in a supermarket we would buy it immediately. It is one of the most important aspects.
“The reality is, there are seven games left in the Premier League and that is the decisive moment.”
City beat Arsenal 2-0 in the EFL Cup final last month, a result that appears to have imbued them with plenty of confidence that they can successfully chase down the leaders.
But Guardiola knows the margins are fine and expressed his view that the title race will be over if City slip to defeat at the Etihad Stadium.
Arsenal’s recent results have provided scant evidence to suggest that is a likely outcome, with the defeat to Bournemouth followed up by a dour 0-0 draw with Sporting CP in the Champions League, albeit that was enough to reach the semi-finals.
Asked what his side have learnt from the cup final defeat, Arteta replied: “They’ve [City] done it in the past – there are some moments when we struggled, we didn’t make the right decisions, sometimes we broke that press and then we didn’t take advantage of that. Every tactic has its issues and its opportunities as well, and in relation to what they do, we’ll adapt and do the same.
“For us now, learn from that game – and the things we want to change for the next one, and the pain that we felt afterwards – in the right way on Sunday.
“Our team has to give us every tool, every element that we need to go and win it. We will have a very, very strong opponent; we know that in front of us. We’ve been doing it for nine months in every context, we have played a lot of games against them, and we know what we have to do.”
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Team news for Manchester City v Arsenal
Ruben Dias (hamstring) is not ready to return from an injury that has kept him out since City’s Champions League elimination at the hands of Real Madrid last month.
Nico O’Reilly is available despite being forced off against Chelsea, but John Stones (calf) and Josko Gvardiol (shin) remain out.
Bukayo Saka (Achilles) is out for Arsenal, but there is hope Noni Madueke will be able to play despite being forced off against Sporting.
Jurrien Timber (groin), Martin Odegaard (knee) and Riccardo Calafiori (knock) round off the Arsenal injury list, with Arteta set to make a final decision over their availability on Saturday.
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