Pep Guardiola won't be cheering on rivals Manchester United against Arsenal this weekend, because he still feels Manchester City are miles away from the Gunners - even if they can move to within two points of the leaders on Sunday.
City closed the gap to Arsenal to five points on Thursday with a comeback win over Tottenham, and can reduce it further to two points on Sunday if they beat Wolves at 2pm before Arsenal host United later in the afternoon. By the time that game kicks off at the Emirates, though, City will have played two games more than Mikel Arteta's leaders.
Guardiola didn't hold back on Thursday night after his side recovered from 2-0 down to beat Spurs, taking aim at the whole club for their complacency and lack of desire in going for a third Premier League title in a row. So regardless of the weekend's results, the manager was still more concerned about those issues rather than the complexion of the Premier League table.
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"It's not about that. It's not about that," he insisted when asked if he would be hoping for a United win on Sunday.
"They lose against United? If we play like this we will not catch them. We need to change ourselves and after if Arsenal continue for a long time, we have to congratulate them. It is not about three or four points. Sooner or later we are going to fall down."
Guardiola also dismissed the idea that City hold a title advantage because they have experience of chasing down big leads like they are currently faced with.
Listing the qualities he sees in the Arsenal side that City lack, he replied: "It's the past. See what you have now. They have everything with set pieces, defensive organisations, they defend ten players in the box, five or six in the back, good transitions, win duels. How they celebrate the goals, how they talk, how they oomph, how they look at each other and talk and how they communicate. This is football and tactics. Right now we don't have it."
And Guardiola was equally as defiant when asked if he regretted selling Gabriel Jesus and Aleks Zinchenko to Arsenal, who have both played key roles for Arteta's side while City have struggled at left-back especially.
He said: "No. When you don't want to stay and want to leave, you cannot stay. I wish the best for Gabriel and Aleks, fantastic people who helped us a lot. It's not about that. Absolutely [their choice]. I never say one player leave. It's the club, decisions they make.
"Of course Erling [Haaland] came so it was difficult for Gabriel but it is normal, Julian [Alvarez] maybe. It's normal. It was a good deal, the players here like Raheem [Sterling], Aleks, and Gabriel always I have big compliments and big thank you for what they have done for us. After it is a good transfer for the club.
"Honestly, we are not in the position that we are because we don't have Aleks or the others. They are good and my argument is beyond this type of things."
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