Manchester, Oct 31 (BUS): Pep Guardiola said he can sense the coming tides.
The Manchester City boss will become more convinced of the new threats to his team’s dominance after the latest round of Premier League matches, according to the Associated Press.
Guardiola announced on Friday that Manchester United are “finally” on their way back under Eric ten Hag. Newcastle “really exists”, while Arsenal, in his opinion, were the best among the players.
At the weekend when City briefly moved to the top of the table, Guardiola once again found himself looking to Arsenal led by Mikel Arteta who beat Nottingham Forest 5-0 on Sunday to reclaim the top spot and over his shoulder against the rising powers of Newcastle and. Manchester United.
Arsenal have provided the latest evidence of their growing belief, in response to last week’s disappointing draw with Southampton to complete a defeat for Forest in last place.
United showed character to develop under Ten Hag when they survived an attack from West Ham to win 1-0 at Old Trafford, with Marcus Rashford scoring his 100th goal for the club.
“I thought what I see from United I like now,” Guardiola said on Friday.
United’s win over West Ham wasn’t as easy on the eye as some of the other recent performances, but it did show another Tin Hag team the ability to win when under pressure.
Ten Hag emphasized his own ambitions when responding to Guardiola’s comments and United’s continued progress.
“It’s a great compliment, but I also see that there is a lot of room for improvement in our game and we have to improve if we want to compete for the top four,” Ten Hag said after the match. “For example, in the first half we have to control the ball more.
“When you see the second half, for sure, I think we were very poor in possession.”
It took three great saves from David de Gea to deny West Ham the equalizer they might deserve.
“You have to score the second goal because the matches will be easier after that,” said Ten Hag. “But I think it’s also a team skill, if needed, to protect your chest, and to survive an opponent who comes and goes for a tie.
“There are some positives, but there are still a lot of negatives in our game and we have to see that and work on that.”
United moved up to fifth after extending their unbeaten run to eight matches in all competitions since losing 6-3 to City at the start of the month.
Newcastle are one position and one point above United after their 4-0 victory over Aston Villa on Saturday, while Tottenham are third.
Meanwhile, Liverpool, City’s toughest rival in recent years, still lack confidence and consistency after losing to Leeds on Saturday.
Arsenal are undoubtedly the surprise package and have made an impressive recovery after a difficult week that raised doubts about their ability to maintain their good start to the season.
A draw with Southampton was followed by a loss to PSV Eindhoven in the Europa League.
But against the Forrest side that shocked Liverpool a week ago, Arsenal delivered a resounding response to lead City by two points.
“We can get a result after the round we were in,” Arteta said. “Now it’s about how we respond, we’ve done it from the start in a really convincing way.”
Nobody would be more convinced of that than Guardiola.