MANCHESTER: Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola said his Ballon d’Or winner Rodri is a doubt for Sunday’s trip to Arsenal due to fitness concerns in what is sure to be a blockbuster clash.
City will arrive in North London on a wave of momentum after back-to-back wins over Manchester United and Napoli, but Rodri came off after an hour against the Serie A leaders in Thursday’s Champions League match, raising concerns about his fitness.
Guardiola said the Spain midfielder will be assessed ahead of Sunday’s game when asked if he would play.
“I don’t know yet, but he was so smart (to request a substitution against Napoli on Thursday). We’ll see, day-by-day,” Guardiola added.
“The training (on Wednesday), he didn’t feel comfortable, but said, ‘No, no, I will be fine, and he played extraordinarily. But, of course, he comes from a tough, tough injury, he has to be alert and we will decide on Sunday how he feels.”
The 29-year-old Spaniard spent most of last season sidelined after tearing his anterior cruciate ligament, and then suffered a groin injury at the Club World Cup.
While City and Arsenal are touted as potential title contenders, Guardiola cautioned that it was too early in the campaign for Sunday’s fixture to give any pointers.
“Listen, it’s the fifth game of the season, come on,” he said. “(Former Manchester United manager) Alex Ferguson said in the Premier League, you have to, after Boxing Day, stay close to the top four,” he added. “After that, you can think about it.
“In the six Premier Leagues (titles Guardiola has won at City), I think four or five, we were in December, January, behind Liverpool and behind Arsenal and at the end we won it.”
While City appear to be rediscovering their rhythm after they were rattled by early defeats to Tottenham Hotspur and Brighton, Guardiola said Arsenal will be a huge challenge on Sunday.
“Mikel (Arteta) is an extraordinary manager and they increased the squad for these (last) four, five transfer windows,” he said. “So it’s an unbelievable squad. It is one of the toughest opponents you can find right now in Europe.”
The Spaniard said his main concern was improving on last season’s third-place finish.
“To see the team growing up, that is only my concern right now, to see the team make a step forward every day,” he said. “We’re not going to win the Premier League on Sunday. We’re not going to lose the Premier League on Sunday.”
Rodri a question mark for City’s Premier League clash with Arsenal
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Rodri a question mark for City’s Premier League clash with Arsenal
- City will arrive in North London on a wave of momentum after back-to-back wins over Manchester United and Napoli
- Guardiola said the Spain midfielder will be assessed ahead of Sunday’s game when asked if he would play
Manchester City narrow gap in table with dominant win over Sunderland
- Phil Foden also scored his fifth goal in three games
- Foden netted his own in the 65th minute with a goal that was all about Rayan Cherki’s jaw-dropping Rabona assist
MANCHESTER: Manchester City’s center backs Ruben Dias and Josko Gvardiol struck less than four minutes apart in the first half in a 3-0 thrashing of Sunderland that tightened the Premier League title race and kept the pressure firmly on leaders Arsenal.
Phil Foden also scored — his fifth goal in three games — as second-placed City seized the opportunity of Arsenal’s 2-1 loss at Aston Villa earlier in the day to climb within two points of the leaders with 31 points after 15 games. Sunderland were provisionally seventh on 23 points.
While Pep Guardiola’s men dominated possession, neither side really threatened in the first half before Dias ended the deadlock in the 31st minute with a rocket from 30 yards out that took a slight deflection off Dan Ballard. Less than four minutes later, Foden whipped in a cross that Gvardiol leapt to head home.
Foden netted his own in the 65th minute with a goal that was all about Rayan Cherki’s jaw-dropping Rabona assist, a chip that Foden needed only to head home and then had the England midfielder shaking his head in disbelief at Cherki’s skill.
“I worked for that, I know my quality, my quality is my technique, when I play with Phil, Erling (Haaland), Omar (Marmoush), it’s very important to give the good balls for them,” Cherki told the BBC.
“Phil is a great player, he works for the team, runs for the team.”
Sunderland ended the game with 10 men after Luke O’Nien was shown a red card for a bad foul deep in added time.
City’s victory could have been even more lopsided. Haaland, who on Tuesday became the fastest player in history to score 100 Premier League goals, had a second-half shot cleared off the line after Cherki beat two men in the buildup.
Cherki had a great late-game chance when he beat Sunderland’s back line before cutting back and firing a low left-footed effort that Roefs dove right to push out of danger.
“Today it was a great game,” Cherki told Sky Sports. “We don’t want to concede goals and today we didn’t. Perfect day.
“We take the game one after one. We want to work for wins and games.”
There had been pre-game cheers at Etihad Stadium when Aston Villa’s Emiliano Buendia scored the 95th-minute winner that sank Arsenal.
But a City victory felt far from certain after they had to fight off a ferocious comeback in a 5-4 win at Fulham on Tuesday. Sunderland have been excellent in their return to the top flight, taking points off Arsenal, Chelsea and, most recently, champions Liverpool in a 1-1 draw at Anfield on Wednesday.
“One of the best performances of the season against a team that’s done so much so far with top six,” Guardiola said. “The way you play, the way you perform is what tells you what’s going to happen in the future.
“We didn’t concede much ... and we created three chances.”
