Pep Guardiola admits his Manchester City team need to step up as they renew hostilities with Arsenal this weekend.
City suffered one of the worst days of an uncharacteristically poor season by their standards at the Emirates Stadium last term as they were thrashed 5-1 by Mikel Arteta’s side.
That game is best remembered for a goal celebration by the Gunners’ Myles Lewis-Skelly in which he mimicked a famous pose of City striker Erling Haaland.
That in turn was in reference to an ill-tempered 2-2 draw between the two sides at the Etihad Stadium earlier in the campaign in which Haaland and Lewis-Skelly had been among the protagonists.
With Arsenal having strengthened considerably since, Guardiola feels City are going to have to raise their performance levels to end a four-game run without a win against the north London outfit.
The City manager said: “Hopefully this season we can make it a little bit more challenging (for them) because Mikel is an extraordinary manager and they’ve increased the squad for this (last) four or five transfer windows.
“It is an unbelievable squad and an unbelievable team, it is one of the toughest opponents you can find right now in Europe.
“We will see what we have to do and how the players are fit. We try to compete.”
City conceded four times in the second half on that last visit to the Emirates.
Guardiola hopes there will certainly be no repeat of that capitulation but he accepts his team are not the force they were and are trying to rediscover the formula to their past success.
Form has picked up with victories over Manchester United and Napoli in the past week, but last month’s back-to-back losses to Tottenham and Brighton still loom large for Guardiola.
He said: “You should ask me (about) after Brighton. I know what the people said and it was not good, really.
“I know my team when it is consistent because when you win six Premier Leagues it is because you are a machine.
“(To be) the consistent team (again), for that you have to prove more.
“The feeling is important, the vibe of the team, the body language especially, I am focused on that.
“The body language of the team has grown up, I am pretty pleased for that and hopefully we can, win or lose, always try. Wen you see the team is in a good vibe, that is what you have to try to do.”
City will assess midfielder Rodri after he was withdrawn as a precaution after an hour of Thursday’s Champions League defeat of Napoli.