Pep Guardiola may have painted the match as a clash of two military leaders, but tomorrow’s game at the Etihad Stadium is far more a meeting of minds than a meeting of might.
Manchester City versus Arsenal, under the stewardship of two of the Premier League’s true aesthetes, is as close as the English game comes to a celebration of the purity of football.
It also represents Guardiola’s first league meeting with Arsene Wenger — and he is relishing the challenge.
“He is the commander-in-chief of Arsenal and I am the commander-in-chief for Manchester City,” the City head coach said with a smile.
But far from forewarning of a battle, Guardiola’s war analogy was simply an admission that he does not spend all his free time studying game tapes.
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“I saw many series on Netflix,” he revealed. “That’s why I use commander-in-chief and colonel a lot.”
On the rare occasions when he prises himself away from the City Football Academy, Guardiola is said to like to go through box sets of his favourite shows, three, four or five episodes at a time.
He has just finished watching the second series of Narcos, the Netflix drama about Pablo Escobar, the former head of the feared Medellín drug cartel.
The former Barcelona coach is also a fan of House of Cards, an American political drama series based on the novel by Michael Dobbs. It focuses on Kevin Spacey’s character, Frank Underwood, a Machiavellian operative in the Democratic Party, who resorts to dirty and mischievous means to reach the Oval Office.
Guardiola and Wenger have not had to resort to foul means to reach the top of their profession, of course. Their achievements are not sullied by foul play. Quite the opposite. They pursue beauty on the football pitch — short, intricate passing, married with speed, finesse and freedom of movement in the final third. They are football soulmates, which is why Guardiola has such a deep-found respect for the man who will be in the opposition dugout tomorrow afternoon.
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“I like the way Arsenal play football,” Guardiola said. “He has been here a long time and when that happens at a club such as Arsenal, it’s because a person is doing a good job.
“I admire the way he tries to play and especially the quality of the players they like and they buy. I like it a lot.”
The statistics suggest that tomorrow’s match should be one for the purist. The two teams’ passing ability cannot be questioned. Some 84.7 per cent of the 9,278 passes City have attempted this season have found their target, while Arsenal’s passing accuracy rate stands at 83.2 per cent. Only Liverpool have scored more goals than Arsenal, who have found the net 37 times. City have scored 34 goals so far, an average of 2.1 per game.
Wenger’s relentless pursuit of perfection has not yielded many trophies of late, however. Arsenal have only won two FA Cups since they last won the title in 2004. During that time, Guardiola has won 21 trophies — all in the space of seven years.
At times, it has seemed as though Wenger has shunned pragmatism in search of utopia. Arsenal were clearly lacking a strong, holding midfielder following the departure of Gilberto Silva, the heir to Patrick Vieira’s throne, eight years ago, but it was not until the latest transfer window that Wenger had a reasonable stockpile of players to screen his defence.
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Finally, with Granit Xhaka, Francis Coquelin and Mohamed Elneny, Wenger is well-equipped in that department. For many summers, the Frenchman seemed intent on spending money on attacking players, rather than in defence, where reinforcements were required. But, again, a more pragmatic Wenger emerged last summer, one who bought Shkodran Mustafi, the German centre back, to aid Laurent Koscielny in the heart of his defence.
Guardiola looked to be heading down a different path last summer. Of the £151.75 million he spent on outfield players, two-thirds was spent in midfield or attack. John Stones was the sole arrival in defence.
Yet Guardiola seemed affronted by the suggestion that his apparent search for perfect attacking football would hinder his bid to win the Premier League.
“I am pragmatic. I am so pragmatic. Look at my past, I am so pragmatic,” he said with a pained expression.
“I’m here because I won. I want to win. I’m so pragmatic, guys. I concede few goals and score goals.”
So, which pass master will dominate tomorrow?
753 David Silva’s successful passes this season
768 Mesut Özil’s successful passes this season
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That has not been the case this season, though. Wednesday’s 2-0 victory over Watford was only the second time in 18 matches that City have kept a clean sheet. They have already conceded 19 goals so far this season — that is two more than Guardiola’s Bayern Munich did in the Bundesliga last year.
But, as a student of the game, Guardiola will know that Wenger had to wait until his second season in charge at Arsenal before winning the league, and that may be the case for him too.
“We have to get to know the players,” Guardiola said. “To build something you need time. So I try, as close as possible this time, to make the team better. I think my perspective [is we] will need more time. I’m going to adapt, I am adapting to the league. Actually, I am adapting to the quality of my players, but the way I am going to play, every day that passes, I am more convinced what I want to do.”
With Chelsea looking invincible after a run of ten straight wins, City and Arsenal are running out of time to catch the league leaders. If Arsenal win tomorrow and Tottenham Hotspur defeat Burnley at home, City will drop outside the top four for the first time this season.
Guardiola will be without Ilkay Gundogan, who is out for the rest of the season after the club confirmed that he had suffered anterior cruciate ligament damage on Wednesday. Dr Ramón Cugat, the Barcelona-based knee specialist, is expected to operate on the German.
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Sergio Agüero and Fernandinho are suspended, which means Yaya Touré could start successive league games for the first time this season.
