Pep Guardiola has cast Manchester City as the underdogs for Sunday’s Carabao Cup final against Arsenal and he’s not wrong .
The Blues were dumped out of the Champions League by Real Madrid, have dropped points to Nottingham Forest and West Ham in the league, and trail the Gunners by nine points at the top . Arsenal, meanwhile, are flying through to the Champions League quarter finals after beating Leverkusen and looking like the best team in England .
THE GUARDIOLA VERDICT
“On Monday hopefully we will wake up and it is a sunny day,” Guardiola said, trying to keep perspective. “It is a football game, we are going to try to win with a good performance.”
Then came the reality check: “We will challenge against the best team in England so far, the best team in Europe because look at their results in the group phase, they were first and have lost three or four games all season.”
That’s not mind games. That’s just true.
“We will challenge them and we have to see how we are competing against them. After one or two weeks, we play against them in the Premier League and it is a good mirror to see what we have to do to achieve like them.”
THE SEASON SO FAR
City’s season is in danger of falling apart. Draws with Forest and West Ham have allowed Arsenal to stretch their lead. The Champions League exit to Madrid stung. Confidence is fragile.
But Guardiola insists there’s still belief.
“In the end, the results have not been good except Newcastle but I have the feeling we are an extraordinary team with many, many, many good things that I love.”
THE WORK IN PROGRESS
“Still we are not complete, we are not aware in certain moments and departments we have to be more clinical and still we are not but my feeling is it is a question of time.”
He pointed to his first season at City, when things took time to click. “It happened when I arrived here in my first season so it needs a little bit of time, we have changed a lot.”
THE VERDICT
Guardiola is right. Arsenal are the best team in England right now. City are chasing, not leading.
But Sunday’s final is one game. One chance to flip the narrative. And if anyone knows how to win when it matters, it’s this manager.