Guardiola says season starts now as Man.City hunt Arsenal

Pep Guardiola said on Friday that the “real season starts now” as Manchester City seek to hunt down Arsenal at the top of the Premier League.

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City closed the gap to the Gunners to four points before the recent international break, thumping champions Liverpool 3-0 after Arsenal dropped points in a 2-2 draw at Sunderland.

Guardiola was asked ahead of his side’s match at Newcastle on Saturday about the importance of a potential swing in momentum from those results.

The City boss admitted it was important not to allow “impeccable” Arsenal to build up too big a lead, though he cautioned the season was still relatively young.

“The feeling that I had in the past when we fought incredibly against Liverpool, I had the feeling that we'll not drop many points and if they can take a lot of distance it will be difficult to catch up,” he said.

“It was similar with Liverpool last season,” when they won the league with four games to spare, he said.

Guardiola, who has won the Premier League title six times with City, said nothing would be decided in November.