MANCHESTER’CITY PEP S BLUE GRIT
Guardiola says going for sixth title is hard graft
by Simon Mullock PEP GUARDIOLA reckons that Mikel Arteta has got it easy at Arsenal.
The Manchester City manager believes the Gunners boss is under less pressure trying to end his club’s 20-year wait for the Premier League crown than he is as he tries to land his sixth title in seven years.
Arsenal go to the Etihad at the top of the table one point clear of City – 12 months after choking on a 10-point lead as the Blues hunted them down.
And Guardiola has cranked up the mind games and insisted: “To fight for one title that you haven’t won for many years is like wow, it is easy.
“We have been here for many, many years – and we are still there.
“I have said it a 1,000 million times, the biggest success of this club is that after many years still we are there – and people cannot imagine how difficult it is.
“We are the benchmark for the new generations in this club because (what we have done) is really, really good.
“I could not expect, honestly, being here with the problems we had this season, being in this position right now.
“But we want to extend it. We want to try and be here longer, but it’s the most complicated thing.
“Just take a look at the biggest clubs, the biggest teams.
“Qualifying for the Champions League every season, the group stages, arriving in the latter stages of all competitions, playing semi-finals of the FA Cup. It’s really good.” City are bidding to become the first club in the history of English football to be crowned champions in four successive seasons. Last season’s Treble winners are unbeaten in 22 games in all competitions – but they are yet to beat another top-five rival after losing to Arsenal and Aston Villa, drawing twice with Liverpool and also being held by Tottenham.
And Guardiola has warned his players that past achievements will count for nothing when they meet Arteta’s side.
He said: “My players have something inside that is a fire to compete – otherwise we would not be here. But what you have done in the past in life, in sport, doesn’t matter. The past is the past.
“What matters now is Arsenal and then Aston Villa.
“You will not beat them if you are thinking in the past and what you have done before.
Prove
“It’s a new day, a new life... something like that! Of course it is important what we have done before, but after more than 20 years, Arsenal haven’t won the Premier League, so they will have something to prove – and that is normal.
“When Liverpool won the title after many years for Jurgen Klopp that gives you something special.
“What we have to do is be ourselves. Our players will bring what they need to make it a good performance.”