Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger plays down chances of his Manchester City counterpart Pep Guardiola emulating his Premier League invincibles: '28 games... that's a long way to go'

  • Manchester City have made a blistering start to the Premier League season 
  • Pep Guardiola's men sit top, four points clear, having dropped just two points
  • Arsene Wenger says there is a long way to go to emulate his 2003-04 side

Arsene Wenger insists it is too early to consider Pep Guardiola's chances of emulating his greatest achievement at Arsenal by completing an entire season undefeated with Manchester City.

Wenger's team won the Premier League title in 2003-04 without losing once and extended the unbeaten run to 49 games.

City are top of the league having won nine and drawn one in fluent form with a blaze of goals.

Arsene Wenger has played down Manchester City's chances of going the season unbeaten

Arsene Wenger has played down Manchester City's chances of going the season unbeaten

Season at a glance

  • Premier League
  • Premier League
  • Championship
  • League One
  • League Two
  • Scottish Premiership
  • Scottish Div 1
  • Scottish Div 2
  • Scottish Div 3
  • Ligue 1
  • Serie A
  • La Liga
  • Bundesliga

But the Arsenal manager said: 'It's a bit early, only 10 games played 28 to go, that's a long way. It is difficult to extrapolate at the moment.


'They are in a good patch, but look at Real Madrid and everything that was being said about them a few weeks ago. It shows you how fragile everything is in the game.'

Real won the Spanish title last season and became the first club to defend the Champions League in the modern era.

Suddenly, after a back-to-back defeats, manager Zinedine Zidane is under pressure.

The Arsenal boss refused to be drawn into the business of showering City with praise before taking his team to the Etihad Stadium on Sunday.

Wenger's Arsenal side lifted the Premier League title in 2004 having not lost a single game

Wenger's Arsenal side lifted the Premier League title in 2004 having not lost a single game

'The comments I leave to what they are,' said Wenger. 'It is difficult for me to comment, I don't see all their games.

'If you look back there have been many great teams in England and they are certainly another one.

'At stake for us is three points and we want to go there and try to win.'

Arsenal are also in decent form, having recovered from a heavy defeat at Liverpool in August and ridden out a more recent hiccup at Watford.

They are back in the pack fighting for the top-four, nine points behind the leaders and should be fresh after Wenger excused his first-teamers from Europa League duty against Red Star Belgrade while City were locked in a Champions League duel with Napoli on Wednesday.

Manchester City have won nine and drawn just one of their opening 10 Premier League fixtures

Manchester City have won nine and drawn just one of their opening 10 Premier League fixtures

Arsenal's second-string drew 0-0 against Red Star and the point was enough to clinch a place in the last-32 knock-out phase of the competition with two group games to spare.

'We are on a good run,' said Wenger, and he refused to advocate a defensive strategy against a team he beat in an FA Cup semi-final last season. 'We have an opportunity to show we can deal with these games, and I am sure we can.

'We have to prepare with clarity and focus and give the maximum on Sunday.

'We will try to play our game. We will not hide. You want to defend well and cannot only be focused on defending. We want to play and have the ball and create dangerous situations.

'Sometimes the best way to defend is to attack. You have to rate the risk if you want to play football. That's part of the game. Is it a bigger risk only to defend if a team is very strong when they attack?

Wenger does not expect wantaway winger Alexis Sanchez to be distracted when facing City

Wenger does not expect wantaway winger Alexis Sanchez to be distracted when facing City

'You can win with any style, that's what makes football interesting. As long as you're strong in the style you want to play.'

Wenger does not expect contract rebel Alexis Sanchez to be distracted from his game by lingering thoughts of Manchester City's failed bid to sign him in in the summer.

'I don't see why it will be different against Man City,' said Wenger, who was also linked with an interest in signing City's Raheem Sterling in exchange. 'The transfer window is closed, that's not really an important subject.'