Pep Guardiola has given his verdict on the Premier League title race as Manchester City look to reclaim top-spot from Arsenal. The Gunners have a five-point lead over the reigning champions after winning their game in hand over Leicester City.
While the north Londoners have distanced themselves from City, they must lock horns once more before the season is over. Mikel Arteta's side are set to face City at the Etihad Stadium in late April in what is poised to be a title-defining fixture.
Speaking to BT Sport ahead of City's clash with Newcastle United, Guardiola heaped great praise on Arsenal and addressed how he will approach the second-half of the campaign. The Spaniard said: "Always you take a look at the opponents.
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"When we are going to play here, when we prepared the game we didn’t take a look at Arsenal, or like in the past Liverpool. Obviously you take a look at how they are playing and the results that they have - we prefer they lose - so that is normal.
"We know how good they are, they make 50 points in the first leg of the season," Guardiola added. "They are playing very, very good, so consistent, and we know we can only drop a few points if we want to stay there until the very end."
Guardiola was then quizzed on the resurgence of Manchester United, who under Erik ten Hag have quickly emerged as a potential title rival in years to come. The City boss said: "They are back. Some are happy, this reunion, happier than the other ones, but it should happen sooner or later.
"I said a month ago United is back. Their body languages, how they celebrate the goals, the commitment, how they run for each other - in the past it was not like that - you feel it that this is United, come on.
"Sooner or later they should be back. The strange thing about [the last] seven or eight years is that they were not there. That was the big surprise for me when I arrived seven years ago."
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