Arsenal are still alive in two major competitions this season.
The Gunners have had so many injury issues since the start of the campaign. At least one player has been available for every single game, and that will not change in the final months either.
However, despite that, Mikel Arteta is keeping Arsenal in the Premier League title race, and the Champions League dream is not dead either.
That makes the next few months exciting, and Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has now said something that should fuel Arsenal’s players in Europe’s biggest club competition.
Pep Guardiola ignores Arsenal while making a big Champions League claim
Guardiola is having a terrible season so far.
Manchester City are already 17 points off the top of the Premier League table, and to make things worse, they crashed out of the Champions League after a humiliating 6-3 defeat to Real Madrid over two legs.
Kylian Mbappe scored a stunning hat-trick at the Santiago Bernabeu on Wednesday night to put the Galacticos through to the next round of the competition.
Guardiola faced the media after the game, and the Spaniard – who has won the Champions League before- named just four teams as real contenders to win the competition.
Arsenal were ignored.
Guardiola said, as per The Mirror: “Of course Madrid are a contender, definitely. But there are other good teams around. It will be an interesting Champions League season.
“Madrid are always favourites for this trophy. There are other teams who are having a very good season but Madrid are always favourites. But there are other teams that are playing very well.
“Liverpool are having a really good season up until now, Barcelona are amazing, Paris Saint-Germain, with my friend Luis [Enrique] in charge, are on the march. But obviously, Madrid are favourites.”
Mikel Arteta can achieve unprecedented Arsenal feat
Arsenal should definitely be viewed as a contender to win the Champions League.
The Gunners have already beaten PSG and made them look average in the competition this season. Liverpool are brilliant, but Arsenal deserved to beat them in the Premier League earlier this campaign.
Arteta’s side will face one of PSV Eindhoven or Feyenoord in the next round of the Champions League, and they will go into the game as favourites.
Arsenal should back themselves to go all the way in the competition.
If they do it, Arteta will not just be proving Guardiola wrong but he will also become the first Gunners manager to win the Champions League – even Arsene Wenger never did it.
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