Ahead of Manchester City's home match against Arsenal in the fifth round of the English Premier League, City manager Pep Guardiola spoke to Sky Sports' Instant Interview to share his expectations for the upcoming match and his team's preparations.
Guardiola began by emphasizing the importance of playing at home and pointed out the key points the team needs to improve on: "We are at home and have the support of our fans, which always gives us extra motivation. We discussed a number of aspects, especially good offense and defense transition and taking up space. Last season, we didn't do well enough in these areas, but today, we hope to improve and we'll see how we do."
Guardiola spoke highly of Arsenal as an opponent: "Arsenal not only defends well, but their high-pressure pressing is incredible and very aggressive. We learned a lot from our two Premier League matches against them last season. All teams face the challenge of defending low against Arsenal, but they always find a way to crack it."
Guardiola also spoke about the importance of learning from playing strong teams, "The more you play against these good opponents, the more you know exactly what you need to do. Everything that happened in the past against Arsenal, both successes and failures, was a valuable opportunity for us to understand ourselves and our opponents better."
Finally, Guardiola also revealed the injury status of De Bruyne, the centerpiece of the team's midfield, "Regarding De Bruyne, I don't think his injury is a big problem, but he couldn't play today. It's a challenge for us, but at the same time it's an opportunity for other players to step up and show what they can do."
