Man City Players Will Take Time To Perform At High Level – Guardiola

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has said it will take some time for his team to perform at high level again after seeing his team scrape past Arsenal in the Premier League on Saturday.

Raheem Sterling’s first half goal was enough to secure victory over the Gunners, but the blues were again missing several key players as the effects of the short close season continues to disrupt the blues. Kevin de Bruyne, Benjamin Mendy and Aymeric Laporte joined Joao Cancelo and Gabriel Jesus on City’s injury list at the weekend.

“I think it will be when everyone is back and games, games, games means there will be more time to sustain our game,” said Guardiola. “The only problem we have, and it is the same for many, many teams, is a lack of preparation. We started our preparation without four, five or six important players. They are not machines, they are human beings and need time to get the condition.”

Sterling scored the only goal of a hard-fought contest against the Gunners to give the blues their second win of the season from four games played so far, and will set them in good stead for the visit of Porto in the Champions League on Wednesday night.

“It was important to win for our preparation for the Champions League and after West Ham. To start the routine of winning games is important.”

The blues are set to enter a tough period of six games in just under three weeks. City travel to West Ham on Saturday, before facing an away tie at Marseille the following Tuesday. Halloween sees a trip to Bramhall Lane and the blues face Olympiakos and Liverpool at home before the next international break.

“We need players to come back in the best condition and for that we need time,” he said.

“But at the same time, the mind can always control your body. Against Arsenal, we had the willing to make effort after effort. They did really well.”