Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola fears Arsenal will be uncatchable in the Premier League this season and touch the 100-point mark.
The Gunners have amassed 44 points from 17 league games and if they continue at this rate, they will have approximately 98 points at the end of the season. The Cityzens, meanwhile, are in second with 36 points and a game in hand.
To date, Manchester City are the only side to have touched the 100-point barrier in a Premier League campaign, doing so in the 2017-18 season.
Incidentally, Arsenal have signed the striker that helped City reach the record-breaking points total.
Gabriel Jesus, who scored the late winner for City against Southampton in Gameweek 38 in May 2018, signed for the Gunners in the summer.
He is currently sidelined with a knee injury after registering five goals and six assists in 14 league games for his new club.
Arsenal were held to a 0-0 draw against Newcastle United on January 3 and squandered the chance to go 10 points clear of City.
However, Guardiola still believes Arteta, who was formerly his assistant manager at the Etihad, could lead his side to Premier League glory. Speaking at his pre-match conference before the clash against Chelsea, the former Barcelona manager said (h/t Manchester Evening News):
“The way you have to reduce the gap is to play good and win games. They have an average and they’re going to do 100 points Arsenal, if they carry on, and we won’t catch them. We will see what happens.”
The defending league champions take on the Blues on January 5 at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea have won just three out of their last 10 games across competitions and are in 10th position in the league table.
Pep Guardiola wants Manchester City to be ‘perfect’ if they aim to catch Arsenal
Guardiola has claimed that Manchester City will have to be ‘almost perfect’ if they aim to catch Arsenal in the table.
A win against Chelsea would bring the gap down to five points.
Adding to his comments, via the aforementioned source, Guardiola said:
“If they continue in that way, we will not catch them. We have to be almost perfect from here and hope they drop their performance – yesterday they were excellent against Newcastle – and see what happens.”
It is worth mentioning that the Gunners are yet to play Manchester City twice in the league this campaign.
Source: sportskeeda.com
