Pep Guardiola's City face Arsenal on the first day of the Premier League season since the corona break. The Catalan coach said that he is looking forward to play again, although he made clear that what is to come is tough and nobody can prepared to play every 72 hours.
The Premier League returns on Wednesday. Guardiola's men will be the first to play again after three months without football.
Pep Guardiola spoke in the press conference about the clash with Arsenal. "We don't know what level we are at... the rest don't know either. We have three or three and a half weeks to train, we know it's not enough, but that's the way it is. In Spain and Germany they've had five or six weeks preparation," the coach said.
"No team can be ready to play every three days. We will have to rotate, we have to end the season however possible to reduce the financial impact on the clubs," Pep continued.
The City boss says his players are good despite everything. "They've returned well, I've got no complaints," he pointed out..
The match, like the rest of them, will be played behind closed doors. "Nobody was expecting what was going to happen a few months ago, not even the best doctors in the world. The important thing is people's health, we'll adapt," he expressed.
Mikel Arteta's Arsenal awaits. Arteta was Guardiola's right hand man at City and Pep praised Arteta: "He's one of the nicest people I've met. It was a pleasure to work with him and I'm looking forward to seeing him. I've already spoken about the wine we are going to drink after the game... if social distancing allows it," he smiled.
He was asked about the Champions League clash with Madrid, but the City manager is not thinking about that. "Right now we are not looking at the long term. Nobody has got the Champions League in mind, I'm not preparing for matches which are so long away."