Pep Guardiola insists he would prefer Manchester City to be in Arsenal’s position in the Premier League table.
City maintained the pressure on Arsenal with a 3-0 win at home to Fulham this week before Mikel Arteta’s side were held to a 1-1 draw by Brentford.
The stalemate still leaves Arsenal at the top of the Premier League but their lead is now just four points.
Arteta’s men have registered just two wins in their last six Premier League games and doubts have been raised over whether the Gunners can last the pace.
Guardiola is adamant that Arsenal should ‘not be relaxed’ but believes Arteta and his team still have the advantage.
‘I would prefer to be in the position Arsenal are in than our position,’ Guardiola said.
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‘If I would be in the position with four points in front of second, with 12 games left, I would not be relaxed. Imagine being four points behind, I am less relaxed.
‘I would still prefer to be in the position Arsenal are in than we are.’
When asked about the title race after Arsenal’s 1-1 draw with Brentford on Thursday night, Arteta said: ‘I understand [the gap could be bigger], but that’s ‘if, if, if’.
‘If we’d lost at Newcastle, we’d have been eight points behind Liverpool in October. So, ‘if, if’, there are a lot of ‘ifs’ over 10 months in this competition. You can only focus on what you have to do, and try to do that in the best possible way.’
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