Guardiola labels Arsenal ‘best team in Europe’ – so it will be funny when Man City beat them again | OneFootball

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola feels Arsenal are “the best team in Europe” so it will of course be very funny when the Citizens beat them in their next game.

Guardiola’s City side have been the scourge of Arsenal in two out of the last three seasons. In 2022/23 and 2023/24, the Citizens were the club the Gunners finished second to in the Premier League, before last season, it was Liverpool who kept the north London club from finishing top.

But Arsenal are the side in the lead at the moment – they have six points on City with six games to play, though Guardiola’s side have an extra game in which they could cut the gap to just three points.

And before that happens, the two sides meet in the Premier League, with arguably the most important game of both of their seasons coming on Sunday, April 19.

City come into it in form, following a 3-0 victory over Chelsea, while the Gunners lost ground in the title race and momentum by losing 2-1 to Bournemouth – and they also have the second leg of their Champions League quarter-final four days prior to facing City.

Guardiola, before the meeting of the Premier League’s top two, has given Arsenal a lot of praise.

He told BBC Radio 5 Live: “We have seven days. So prepare mentally. Beating Arsenal once is difficult, they proved that all season. So to beat them twice in a margin of three weeks is even more difficult. We play at home, it is a final. Relax and focus on what we need to do through that game. If you win or if you lose everybody knows.

“We have to talk about what we have to do against a team that defends well, wins duels, attacks also with the long balls, thousand million things that they do brilliantly this season that make them the best team in England, the numbers are there – and the best team in Europe – the numbers are there. We have incredible respect.

“I have three people in front of me here, did you bet £1 before the Carabao Cup final that we would win? No chance. You were all thinking Arsenal was going to win. We have to control that next Sunday.”

But the fact that Guardiola thinks Arsenal are the best team in Europe will make it all the more funny when City beat them. Firstly, the Gunners were not the best team in Europe when they crumbled in recent seasons, but they did crumble, and that crumble is happening all the same now that they are.

Secondly, it will make Guardiola look like an even better coach than the one he is when he overcomes the greatest side he could possibly come up against and beats them to the title.

If that happens, with how far Arsenal were ahead, it would be seen as a mighty capitulation from them and mastery from Guardiola to put City back into a commanding position.

If the Gunners win next week and they win the title as a result, that’s fine for the City boss – he knew they probably should. If not, he’s a genius who conquered the best side on the continent. He can’t really lose. Arsenal can.