Guardiola tips Chelsea to get back to ‘fighting for titles’; reveals injured Man City star feels ‘really good’
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola reckons Chelsea will get back to “fighting for titles” soon ahead of their clash at the weekend.
Since the arrival of the Todd Boehly-led consortium, the Blues have gone backwards on the pitch with Chelsea finishing 12th last campaign despite spending a huge amount of money.
The financial outlay continued over the summer, while Mauricio Pochettino was hired as manager, but their fortunes haven’t improved much with the Argentine’s side sitting tenth in the Premier League.
Chelsea did beat Tottenham 4-1 in a crazy match in north London on Monday and Guardiola is expecting a tough test when Man City travel to Stamford Bridge on Sunday.
Guardiola told a press conference on Friday: “They are aggressive and have good patterns. It’s one of the toughest games we have during the season.
“[We will] try to maintain the level of our game but sooner or later Chelsea will be there fighting for titles [again], no doubt about that.”
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Cole Palmer swapped Man City for Chelsea in the summer for £40m with the 21-year-old contributing three goals and two assists in eight appearances in west London.
When asked about Palmer, Guardiola replied: “I’m really pleased for him. The reason he left is to get game time, and he has it, so good for him. Congratulations to Chelsea and to him.”
Man City have been missing Kevin de Bruyne for the majority of the season but Guardiola reckons the Belgium international could be back soon.
Guardiola gave an update on Friday, he said: “I spoke with him and he said he feels really good. He’s not training with us and I don’t know [when he will return].
“With this kind of injury it’s better we don’t put pressure on. Kevin was a bad injury with surgeries so it’s step by step.”
On John Stones’ injury, Guardiola added: “He’s injured. He’s not ready for Chelsea and we’ll see after the international break. I don’t know [ready for Liverpool].”
18-year-old Rico Lewis has played ten matches in all competitions this season under Guardiola and when asked about the versatile England under-21 international, Guardiola continued: “He is an exceptional player. He’s been playing at a high level since he arrived [in the first team], defensively and offensively.
“Yes, we are really pleased [with him]. An academy player can be a regular player and he already plays in many moments. We’re really pleased.”
