Arsenal vs. Burnley: Man City’s Pep Guardiola makes “no doubts” claim ahead of huge Premier League title clash

Pep Guardiola has “no doubts” that Burnley will seek to cause an upset when they face Premier League leaders and title hopefuls Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium on Monday night.

The Gunners are regarded as overwhelming favourites to beat the relegated Clarets, sitting 19th in the table, on home soil as they bid to move one step closer to lifting their first top-flight trophy in 22 years.

Mikel Arteta’s side can move five points clear at the summit if they beat Burnley and could then be crowned champions before the final weekend of the season if Man City fail to beat high-flying Bournemouth on Tuesday evening.

Burnley travel to the capital almost three weeks after their relegation back to the Championship was confirmed following a slender 1-0 home defeat to Man City.

Following the departure of Scott Parker by mutual consent, interim boss Mike Jackson is taking charge of Clarets side that has won just four of their 36 games in the Premier League this season.

However, Burnley held Europa League finalist Aston Villa to a 2-2 draw last weekend, while they have also collected solitary points against Bournemouth, Chelsea, Tottenham and Liverpool since the turn of the year.

Guardiola: "I don’t have any doubts Burnley will try"

Man City are desperate for Burnley to do them a massive favour and stall Arsenal's title charge on Monday, and Guardiola is confident that the Clarets “will try” to upset the frontrunners.

"Here in England the teams always do their best,” Guardiola told reporters at a press conference ahead of City’s trip to Bournemouth.

“For example Leeds are already safe and they behaved incredibly to beat Brighton who have everything to play for. Teams in England always do their best. I don’t have any doubts [Burnley] will try, no doubts.”

Asked if he will watch Arsenal’s match against Burnley, Guardiola added: "I don't know. Maybe, yeah, I will take a look, for sure.

“But still, I have the job against Bournemouth to see what I have to show the players - still it's not done. So I don't know if I'll have time, we'll see."

Indeed, Guardiola’s primary focus is on his Man City team and preparations for a tricky clash against an in-form Bournemouth outfit who are enjoying a club-record 16-game unbeaten run that has pushed them into contention for Champions League qualification.

Guardiola feeling no title race nerves ahead of facing “unbelievable” Bournemouth

Although the title race is out of Man City’s hands, Guardiola is not feeling the nerves and is focused solely on what he and his team can control.

"No, just the normal emotions. It's nice to have the feeling that a little bit, but it is under control I would say," he said.

"In the beginning my stages as a manager I was more anxious. Now it's just focusing and preparing what we have to tell the players, what they have to train in, which players you have to use, which players you have to put on the bench to have a good impact."

Man City head to the South Coash in buoyant mood following their FA Cup final triumph over Chelsea on Saturday, but Guardiola’s side now come up against a refreshed Bournemouth side who have had 10 days to prepare for Tuesday’s contest.

"It’s a different competition [to Saturday], but of course it's better to travel to Bournemouth with the feeling that we won the FA Cup, than the opposite," said Guardiola.

“Bournemouth are 16 games unbeaten so the run is unbelievable. This season again, what they have done with losing three players from the back four who had success last season, and still again they do it.

“The only chance we have [to win the league] is to win the game so we have to break that run, otherwise it will be over.”

Fully-fit Man City squad “have to win” against Bournemouth

He added: “When you arrive in the last fixtures and you play for something important, and the opponent doesn’t really play for anything, it’s always easier. That is not the case tomorrow. They’ve spent 10 days thinking about just us. Now we can start to think about them.

"When the people say we play in the same conditions – never. For the teams who play in Europe and the latter stages [of cup competitions], always you play in different conditions. But we are used to it.

"We have to prepare in the best way, knowing exactly what we have to do. We have to win and try to keep the hopes for the last game against Aston Villa.”

Man City can at least take comfort from their exceptional head-to-head record against Bournemouth; their 94.1% win rate versus the Cherries is the highest of any team against another in Premier League history with 10 or more meetings (W16 D0 L1).

Meanwhile, Guardiola has also confirmed that he has a fully-fit squad for the trip to Bournemouth, with Rodri the latest name to recover from injury after playing for just over an hour in the FA Cup final.

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