Manchester City’s Spanish head coach Pep Guardiola is back playing mind games once again as the crunch phase of the season begins. When City welcome Arsenal later tonight at the Etihad Stadium, many are of the view that it can possibly decide where the Premier League trophy is headed.
Guardiola and Co. have the exposure of being in similar situations and last season has to be the perfect blue print. They defeated Aston Villa on the final day of the season by 3-2 after going 2-0 down initially. They played the entire last season without a recognized goal poacher so just think how much they have leveled up since Erling Haaland and Julian Alvarez arrived.
With Kevin De Bruyne providing the attacking thrust behind Haaland, their defense has been rock solid too with Ruben Dias and Manuel Akanji playing a major role. They have already booked a meeting against Manchester United in the FA Cup final and in the Champions League, City will replay last year’s semi-final against Real Madrid over 2 legs.
And in the Premier League, you already know the equation. Not only do they have a chance to cut the gap by 2 points but they also have 2 more games in hand than the Gunners. However, their manager Pep Guardiola suggested his team is a little nervous and scared for the encounter against league leaders Arsenal.
“I manage well but it is a good sign, being a little bit nervous. So the people in society, the teenagers, all of them are psychologists for mental health because they don’t accept that being nervous is part of our lives, being anxious is part of our lives, being scared is part of our lives, and nothing happens. – Guardiola said.
We don’t have to be perfect. When we educate our kids, they have to be perfect for Instagram and TikTok and this kind of thing – they have to be a genius.” – Guardiola concluded.
