Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola sends ominous warning to Arsenal over Premier League title race

Pep Guardiola has warned Arsenal and his former assistant manager Mikel Arteta that Manchester City will only get stronger in the second-half of the season.

Arsenal and Man City appear to be in a two-horse race for the Premier League title.

Aston Villa threatened to mount a surprise challenge by winning 11 matches in a row but Unai Emery’s side suffered a humbling 4-1 defeat to Arsenal last time out.

That victory sent Arsenal five points clear at the top of the table but Manchester City will cut that gap back to two if they beat Sunderland on New Year’s Day.

Arsenal were comfortably the best team in the Premier League in the first few months of the season but Man City have looked ominously formidable recently, winning eight games in a row.

An already-strong City have been boosted by the return of former Ballon d’Or winner Rodri, who is fit after a hamstring injury and could feature in Man City’s first game of 2026.

‘When you miss the best player in the world, two seasons ago, he was an incredible figure to make a Treble and four Premier Leagues in a row,’ Guardiola said.

‘You miss him, of course. For one week, three weeks, you can handle it. More than one year and a half, it’s a lot of time.

‘At the end of last season, what we have done, overcome the problems that we had, it was one of the best seasons we have had as a team.

‘The guys who were there, the staff and background staff last season was arguably one of the best that we had. Because it’s how you overcome the problems.

‘We have health, a quite decent sense of humour, so 2025 was nice. We cannot judge the season on whether you win the title or not, there are more important things in life than that and we try to do our best.

‘In this perspective, now every time when I reflect on what happened last season, I’m more proud than ever about what we have done as a club, how we handled the bad, bad situations.

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‘How the hierarchy, how [the chairman] Khaldoon Al Mubarak, how the CEOs incredibly messaged their support: ‘Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go.’

‘And of course, when we had all the seasons as a squad, we were competing like we are doing this season and obviously, come on, with Rodri we are a stronger team. There’s no doubt about that.

‘I’m pretty sure with some players coming back, like Jérémy [Doku] and John [Stones] [that will] help us. And many players have been injured for a long, long time. I’m pretty sure that we’ll be better.’

Rodri was arguably the best midfielder in the world before missing almost the entirety of last season with a serious ACL injury.

The Spain international marked his long-awaited return at the start of the season before suffering injury setbacks in early October and early November.

‘We miss Rodri a lot; the only thing I want is Rodri to be happy,’ Guardiola, who is chasing his seventh Premier League title, added.

‘The knee I know is fine, the muscles are fine. I want the Rodri that we met, his joy in playing, his presence and body language and this kind of stuff.

‘I want it for him, for the team, of course, selfishly. We want him. Hopefully, step by step, he can be involved with us.

‘Basically we didn’t have players for a long, long time and the moment with the new players, and then with three-quarters of the season gone others came back [and] we were the best team in the Premier League in the last ten to 15 games in the season.’

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