Pep Guardiola spoke to the media ahead of Manchester City's crucial rearranged game against Tottenham Hotspur at the Etihad Stadium on Thursday. The City boss provided fitness updates on three players, talked about *that* goal in the Manchester derby, and the Premier League title race.
Fitness updates:
"We'll train this afternoon, see how we train and decide who plays [against Tottenham]."
"He [De Bruyne] had a personal issue and was not training. Today, he is back!"
"They [Ruben Dias and John Stones] were in the last two training sessions, they have trained and are in contention [to play against Tottenham]."
Bruno Fernandes' goal for United:
"It's over. [It] won't change anything. [We have to] focus on Tottenham. Two minutes later in the dressing room - my message was: focus on the next game."
"No [talks with the match officials], we have to improve our game; control what we can control."
Lack of creativity?
"The reason [for fewer chances] is the creativity to play hasn't been as good as usual. Sometimes to have chances you need a good build-up, spread the defensive lines. We struggle the last two games."
"No [mentality issues]. When we play good, always is tactic reasons, I have the duty to find the reasons. The mentality in this group, no."
"We have played really good with him [Erling Haaland]. [We have] to play better, to provide balls to him as much as possible."
Arsenal's position is better:
"It's better [to be eight points clear at the top], you can drop points. If you are behind you cannot drop points. Pressure is next game, we cannot think about it other [than] to win the next game. After the conditions dictate: if they are good in all departments they will be there. They [Arsenal] are better than us so far [but there are] many games to play. Don't think about it [position in the table]. [To] catch Liverpool who were infront in the last years, [we] just think the next game and see what happens. We have been in this position many times in the past."
Is Pep Guardiola relaxed?
"I've never been relaxed, even eight points in front..."
City's biggest game of the season?
"[It is] not about what happened against United or the table, Spurs have always been a tough opponent. Their quality: this year is not an exception. [It is] important to win the game."
Written by: @coIgcra
Some quotes as quoted by Manchester Evening News and Manchester City.
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