Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has reiterated that his players are motivated to beat Arsenal in today’s Premier League clash at the Etihad Stadium.

Mikel Arteta returns to his former stomping ground with his side boasting a one-point lead over the treble winners, which will increase to four if they can banish their nine-year Etihad curse.

For the men in sky blue, finishing on the lowest spot on the podium would be an unwanted collector’s item under Pep Guardiola – whose former student Arteta has quickly become a master of sorts – although that is nothing to do with their near-unblemished form in 2024.

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However, in a chat with the club’s official website, the Spanish tactician stated that his team doesn’t need extra motivation to beat Arsenal.

“I think it comes from inside themselves. After eight years, I don’t have to motivate them every three days – it doesn’t work like that unfortunately.

“They have something inside – some fire – to compete or else we would not be here. I say a thousand million times that the biggest reason behind our success is the players and their desire to extend the success.

“They set the benchmark for the future generations. I couldn’t imagine we would be here after all these years and every year be in the top three, FA Cup semi-finals and the Champions League. It’s so complicated and it’s really good – really good.”

“The past is the past – what we have to do is win against Arsenal and then Aston Villa in the next game,” he said.

“You cannot think about what happened in the past because it’s a new day. It’s important we did what we did, but I didn’t expect to arrive after the international break and be where we are.

“You could say Arsenal have not won the Premier League for 20 years so will have something special to prove it – we know that – always when Liverpool and Jurgen challenged us so always they give you something special.

“What we have to do is be ourselves with our people – the will being something special on Sunday, I’m pretty sure – just like they did against United to help us make a good performance.”

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