JOSE? HE IS ALWAYS KIDDING

Pep: Mourinho won’t be going to Arsenal to lose

PEP GUARDIOLA has told Jose Mourinho he won’t fall for his mind games.

The Manchester United boss claims he will play his kids against Arsenal tomorrow to rest his big names for the Europa League.

United are one of Manchester City’s rivals for a Champions League spot and Guardiola says he knows Mourinho too well to think he has given up on the top four.

“I’m pretty sure United are going to London to win the game,” said the City boss. “What I know about the times I’ve faced my colleague Jose Mourinho is that he is never going to drop even one game.

“It doesn’t matter about the team he’s going to play, he is going to travel to London to win.”

Guardiola blames a lack of goals for his side’s indifferent home form.

City have managed just 27 in their 16 league games at the Etihad, ahead of today’s lunchtime clash with Crystal Palace, dropping 17 points.

“It’s a lack of goals,” said the Catalan. “It’s as simple as that. We can accept the opponent scoring one goal, but we don’t score enough goals. We don’t score two, three, four enough times.

“We create enough chances. In the statistics, we are the team with the most clear-cut chances, but are seventh in the statistics for scoring the most goals.”

Although Sergio Aguero, who misses out today with his groin problem, has 18 league goals, Raheem Sterling is their next best marksman on six.

But Guardiola does have big hopes for Gabriel Jesus, who has netted four times in his eight appearances for City.

Of the 20year-old striker, Guardiola said: “We expected a lot of things, but not that impact so soon.

“He will be the future striker in this club for the next years. There have been many others like that.

“Lionel Messi, for example, (at Barcelona) we took him at 18, 19 years old, and he scored 40 league goals in a year. The top players are top players.”