THE HEAT’S ON GUARDIOLA JUST AS MUCH AS WENGER

A GREAT deal of focus will be on whether Arsene Wenger needs to win this trophy and the Europa League to rescue Arsenal’s season, especially in light of their embarrassing home defeat by Ostersunds. Yet this final is just as important for Manchester City and Pep Guardiola. City will be feeling wounded after Wigan dumped them out of the FA Cup. City’s predicament reminds me of Arsenal’s Invincibles season in 2003-04. We went the whole season unbeaten in the league but at the time it felt the team had underachieved. Having lost to Middlesbrough in the League Cup semi-finals, we were knocked out in the FA Cup semifinals and Champions League quarterfinals by Manchester United and Chelsea respectively in the space of a fortnight. The Chelsea defeat was a real sucker punch. We had already beaten them three times that season. Three days later, our unbeaten status was under serious threat when we went in at half-time 2-1 down to Liverpool at Highbury. It proved to be a test of our character and Thierry Henry completed his hat-trick to seal a 4-2 win. Tomorrow will be a similar test of City’s resolve. Last month, Liverpool dashed their hopes of emulating Arsenal’s unbeaten league campaign. Despite losing that aura of invincibility, the consolation was that they could still win an historic quadruple. Now Wigan have blown that out of the water. Guardiola made a big error at half-time against g Wigan by taking of off Leroy Sane, who seemed s City’s mos most likely matchwinner. ma Was the master tactician rocked by the t tunnel spat w with Wigan b boss Paul Cook? C City confidence w will be shaken and Wenger will know just how they are feeling. fee Arsenal may not be challenging for Premier League titles, but in recent years one-off cup ties have become Wenger’s forte. He has a strong record at Wembley — and don’t forget it was defeat by Arsenal in last year’s FA Cup semi-finals that ended Guardiola’s hopes of a trophy in his first season. City will be quickly looking to make things right. If they cannot, Wenger will be ready to exploit any weakness.