Pep Guardiola says Manchester City’s “real season” begins now as the champions aim to close the gap on Premier League leaders Arsenal.
Gatekeepers News reports that city narrowed the deficit to four points before the international break, defeating Liverpool 3-0 while Arsenal were held to a 2-2 draw by Sunderland. Speaking ahead of Saturday’s trip to Newcastle, Guardiola admitted the results could prove pivotal in shifting momentum.
The City manager warned that allowing Arsenal—who he described as “impeccable”—to open up a sizeable lead could be dangerous, even though the campaign is still in its early stages.
“The feeling that I had in the past when we fought incredibly against Liverpool, I had the feeling that we’ll not drop many points and if they can take a lot of distance it will be difficult to catch up,” he said.
He added that last season’s title race, in which Liverpool won the league with four games to spare, provided a similar example.
Guardiola, a six-time Premier League champion with City, stressed that nothing is settled in November.
“There’s two parts of the season, when the transfer window is over in summer and after, when the international break is over,” he said.
“Now the international break is done so we’ll be together until March, see each other every three days, four days. Now the real, real season starts.
“And the important thing is to be there, to be close there and after that arrive at the end of the season with the chance that we can fight for it. That is the target and of course winning tomorrow would be an important step for us.”
A victory over Eddie Howe’s struggling Newcastle would move City to within a single point of Arsenal, who host Tottenham on Sunday.
Guardiola confirmed that midfielders Mateo Kovacic and Rodri will miss the trip to St James’ Park.
“Everybody is fit except Kova and Rodri,” he said. “Rodri is making steps good — it’s almost three weeks since his last setback. He knows he has to take time to recover well mentally and physically and to be consistent from now until the end.”
Gabriel Out for ‘Weeks’, Arteta Confirms
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has confirmed that defender Gabriel Magalhaes will be sidelined for “weeks” after suffering a thigh injury on international duty.
The Brazilian centre-back has been ever-present in the Premier League this season, anchoring a back line that has conceded just five goals in 11 matches. He picked up the injury during Brazil’s 2-0 friendly win over Senegal at the Emirates Stadium last weekend.
“Gabi unfortunately picked up an injury with the Brazilian national team and he’s going to be out for weeks,” Arteta said.
“We need to have another scan next Wednesday, and we’ll have the timeline probably much clearer than we have at the moment.
“It’s clearly a blow because he’s our leader in our back line and, to me, it’s never a positive thing. The good thing is that we have very good options and people have to stand up now and do the job.”
