With Jurgen Klopp’s side not in action until they travel to face West Ham in the Premier League on Monday, City have the chance to close the gap to just two points with a victory over the Gunners at the weekend.
However, Guardiola insisted ahead of Sunday’s showdown at the Etihad Stadium that the result is just one important aspect of what City can achieve against Arsenal. As quoted by the Liverpool Echo, the City boss said: “It’s not the points, it’s the way you play.
“Managers are sitting watching our games on TV and when they see how good we are, that is the best pressure.”
City slipped to third in the table following Tottenham’s 1-0 win over Newcastle on Saturday, after the champions lost 2-1 to the Magpies in the midweek to hand the initiative to their title rivals.
Arsenal have not won any of their last 2️⃣0️⃣ @premierleague away games v big 6 sides - their last win came at Man City in Jan 2015
— Sky Sports Statto (@SkySportsStatto) February 1, 2019
Pep Guardiola has never lost in 11 meetings v Unai Emery (W7, D4)@ManCity host @Arsenal on Super Sunday, live on Sky Sports PL from 4pm pic.twitter.com/BYhN3UdYsN
The Citizens face a huge run of fixtures in the coming week, starting against Arsenal on Sunday, with a midweek game against Everton and a colossal encounter with Chelsea next week for Guardiola’s side.
“If you want to be a real contender you have to make a lot of points,” the former Barcelona coach added.
“It’s an important week but after this week if we are still there then the next games will be important too.
Pep Guardiola is eyeing a summer move for home grown pair Ben Chilwell (22) of Leicester and Aaron Wan-Bissaka (21) of Crystal Palace to bolster the left and right-back positions. The two could cost a combined £80m. [Sun Sport] pic.twitter.com/NL6UtWoSqi
— City Watch (@City_Watch) February 2, 2019
“The pleasure is to play as good as possible and win games. After that, titles will be a consequence.
“How are we going to win coming from behind? What do we have to do? The only way is we focus.
Man City have won their last 3 #PL matches against Arsenal#MCIARS pic.twitter.com/msEchVXsZi
— Premier League (@premierleague) February 3, 2019
“When we lose in the way we lose, we have to do better in those situations.
Source : 90min