The title of Premier League will not be decided against Arsenal

Manchester City boss, Pep Guardiola, insisted that the title of the Premier League will not be decided by the outcome of his trip to the Emirates on Sunday.

The Cityzens finally take a form after a rocky start of the campaign which saw them abandon the points in Tottenham and Brighton.

Guardiola’s men go to Arsenal, who have lost one of their four opening clashes and has hunted an elusive title that they have not lifted since 2004.

Speaking at his pre-match press conference, Guardiola said: “It’s the fifth match. It will be the fifth match. Come on.

“When I got here, Brian Kidd told me that Sir Alex Ferguson said that in the Premier League, you have to stay near the first four until the boxing day. And after that, you can think about it.

“Last season, after the day after Christmas, we were in another country. This is why, let’s go today and we will see what is going on. There are a lot of matches.

“For experience, during the six Premier League victories, I think four or five, we were behind Liverpool or Arsenal in December, January. And in the end, we won it.

“See the team go up. This is all my concern at the moment. See the team take a step forward every day. We are not going to win the Premier League on Sunday. We are not going to lose the Premier League on Sunday.

“So we see the team, that we are better than last season there, and we are better and continue a little, a lot of good things we have done in these two games, and continue with it.”

Arsenal a great enemy

Guardiola and Arteta appreciated many battles since the latter left the side of his tutor to lead the Gunners, but this match could have more meaning than most.

City experienced a huge drop in quality in the last quarter, but still won results against the Gunners.

Arteta has often been accused of having played too security against his title rivals, and with City back in the photo this season, he will be eager to prove himself in front of his old mentor and has really established references as arsenal.

And Guardiola has only respect for his former student.

He added: “The match last season, we started as on several occasions last season and a thousand million goals, and after we had most of the time well, given the way it was last season, and the last 15 to 20 minutes were a disaster.

“We forgot to do what we had done and after that it was easy for Arsenal. I hope that this season, we can do a little more challenges because Mikel Arteta is an extraordinary manager and that they are increasing the team for these four or five transfer windows.

“So it’s an incredible team and an incredible team, it is one of the most difficult opponents you can find now in Europe and we try to compete. I want to compete to be a better team than last season, especially in the last 20-25 minutes.”