Pep Guardiola gives honest verdict on Arsenal as clear Manchester City challenge set

Pep Guardiola acknowledges his Manchester City squad must step up their performance as they prepare to lock horns with Arsenalthis weekend.

City endured one of their darkest moments of what was an unusually disappointing campaign by their lofty standards at the Emirates Stadium last season, suffering a humiliating 5-1 defeat to Mikel Arteta's men. That encounter is most notably recalled for a goal celebration by the Gunners' Myles Lewis-Skelly in which he replicated a trademark pose of City forward Erling Haaland.

That gesture was itself a response to a heated 2-2 stalemate between the two clubs at the Etihad Stadium earlier in the season, during which Haaland and Lewis-Skelly had been amongst the central figures. With Arsenal having bolstered their ranks significantly since then, Guardiola believes City must improve their standards to halt a four-match winless streak against the north London side.

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The City manager said: “Hopefully this season we can make it a little bit more challenging (for them) because Mikel is an extraordinary manager and they’ve increased the squad for this (last) four or five transfer windows.

“It is an unbelievable squad and an unbelievable team, it is one of the toughest opponents you can find right now in Europe. We will see what we have to do and how the players are fit. We try to compete.”

City shipped four goals after the interval during that previous trip to the Emirates Stadium. Guardiola is hopeful that his team can avoid a repeat of their previous capitulation, acknowledging that they are currently not as formidable as they once were and are striving to regain their winning formula.

Despite recent victories over Manchester United and Napoli boosting their form, Guardiola remains haunted by last month's consecutive defeats to Tottenham and Brighton. He stated: "You should ask me (about) after Brighton. I know what the people said and it was not good, really.

"I know my team when it is consistent because when you win six Premier Leagues it is because you are a machine. (To be) the consistent team (again), for that you have to prove more.

"The feeling is important, the vibe of the team, the body language especially, I am focused on that. The body language of the team has grown up, I am pretty pleased for that and hopefully we can, win or lose, always try. When you see the team is in a good vibe, that is what you have to try to do."

City will assess midfielder Rodri after he was withdrawn as a precaution after an hour of Thursday’s Champions League defeat of Napoli.