When Pep Guardiola was asked about the size of the gap between Manchester City and their neighbours going into Sunday’s Manchester derby he misunderstood the question and presumed he was being invited to talk about Liverpool. That says a lot about the way the last few seasons have gone but, even when put straight and asked to consider City’s 15-point lead over Manchester United in the Premier League, the answer was the same one.
“When I came here I wasn’t expecting that,” the City manager said. “In previous seasons there was not so much of a gap between teams near the top of the league. I don’t have any doubts about United’s quality, though, and I think they are getting closer to where they want to be.
“Ole Gunnar Solskjær is doing a really good job as far as I can see. I am not part of United, I don’t know what goes on inside the club but you can see the players like playing for him. They are scoring a lot of goals at the moment, creating a lot of chances and playing well. I saw their game at Everton last weekend and they were good to watch.”
United have not always been great to watch in recent seasons but, if they are on something of a roll at the moment, it is probably down to Bruno Fernandes, their £50m signing from Sporting Lisbon. Instantly putting the Paul Pogba problem on a back-burner, the mobile midfielder has been a success from day one, linking up straight away with Fred and bringing an energy to United’s game that has been missing for some time. United have not lost since Fernandes’ arrival, although it was a close call with the late VAR decision at Goodison last week and even Guardiola described him as an exceptional player.
City have a few of those of their own, though Kevin De Bruyne’s shoulder will be subject to a late fitness test and, as their slightly laboured win at Sheffield Wednesday in midweek showed, the defending champions are a different proposition without their most creative and effective player. There is a feeling, too, that in addition to performing with more confidence of late United have more to play for on Sunday afternoon because they need the points to claim a top-four finish. City, too, want to qualify for next season’s Champions League; indeed Guardiola has set his sights on second place but they already have enough points more or less to guarantee top four. Guardiola, needless to say, does not approve of such thinking. “We always have to be the ones for whom winning is most important,” he said. “It doesn’t matter what the game is or who the opponents are, if we go out in the belief that the result is more important for the other side than us, then we are going to lose the game.”
When United beat City in the league at the Etihad in December Marcus Rashford was on the scoresheet and Guardiola thinks it is a pity the England striker will not be able to take part on Sunday. “I like Rashford and I always like to play against opponents who are as strong as possible,” the City manager said. “It’s the same situation when you play Spurs without Harry Kane. I enjoy competing against the top players and, in a derby especially, you always want to see both teams at full strength.”
Guardiola and his players have put together five straight wins since the mid-season mini-break, including a victory over Real Madrid in the Bernabéu and securing the first silverware of the season at Wembley against Aston Villa last week. If nothing else, that compares favourably with the hiccups Liverpool have produced in the same period and, even if their lead at the top of the Premier League remains commanding, Jürgen Klopp’s team will be under a certain amount of pressure when Atlético Madrid visit Anfield on Wednesday trying to protect a one-goal lead.
City play a rearranged league game against Arsenal the same night, before the return leg against Real a week later. “We’ve had a good month,” Guardiola agreed. “But we weren’t playing badly before.”
