All eyes will be on the Etihad Stadium on Sunday afternoon – live on Sky Sports – as Ruben Amorim looks for a statement result in his first taste of the all-Manchester clash.
The Portuguese has already masterminded a victory against City in the last six weeks after Sporting sealed a stunning 4-1 Champions League triumph in his penultimate match before joining United.
It is among seven defeats Guardiola’s stumbling side have suffered in a 10-game run that has seen just one win, but Man Utd captain Bruno Fernandes brushed aside the suggestion that this is a good time to be facing them.
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Speaking exclusively to Sky Sports, Guardiola said: “[The owners] know when the situation is bad and we start to lose games, then it is not sustainable. Then I would not be here next month or in the next two months.
“The results dictate that – and this is the reality. We cannot eternally lose games. Maybe because what we have done in the past [people will think I wouldn’t be sacked] but we are judged daily as managers.
“In one bad season, you can be out. The club knows that I will not do it [resign]. The club would have to do it. I want to be close to the players. I want to be beside them. We’ve lost a lot of games – more than we have in two seasons.
“Something wrong is happening, but I’m putting myself first and thinking what I can do better. In Turin [Wednesday’s 2-0 defeat to Juventus] we had four players from the academy so we can see the reality.
“In the next game, it will be the same and in the last month it has been like that. You can survive for a few games but we’ve been doing it for over a month with players with a lot of minutes in their legs.
“It’s not because they don’t want it – it is because of the calendar, the schedule. We will go to play in the Club World Cup in Orlando next summer and then we have to start the Premier League three weeks later. It’s impossible.”
Is football becoming unsustainable for the players?
“Of course,” added Guardiola. “But the show must go on and will go on. When Rodri is not playing, another player will come in. The Premier League defend their business so I defend mine. My business is my players. My success is my players and I want to protect them.
“These players have done something no other team in this country has done and these players would have done it again were it not for the schedule.”
Guardiola recently committed his future at City for at least another two seasons but it has coincided with his side’s poor form. While the Catalan accepts he is not immune to being sacked, he has no regrets over putting pen to paper until summer 2027.
“Absolutely not,” Guardiola said in his press conference on Friday. “I will regret if I left now. I would sleep even worse than now. It’s impossible I would leave the situation as it is now.
“They can sack me. That can happen if we continue like this but leaving now, no chance. If my boss, Khaldoon [Al Mubarak] is not happy with me, they can do it, but now leaving in that position, no chance.
“When I feel it’s time to leave, I will leave. I don’t have any, I would say, target to make me, my life or my journey here or my time here completely different. Impossible.
“If I leave tomorrow, or if I leave in a bit… I’ve been the best. In this club, I will never, never, ever forget. I’m not waiting until I win another Premier League or Champions League, no.”
The determination is clearly still burning inside Guardiola.
So would returning City back to their best – and winning another Premier League title – represent Guardiola’s greatest achievement given his side’s steep decline?
“The greatest achievement has already been done,” added Guardiola, referencing his treble-winning season. “We are not the best because we have the players – otherwise Liverpool will be close.
“But now we realise how difficult it was and when we come back, we’ll be… wow.
“But if I’m losing one month more and losing at the end, I will say, ‘guys, take on someone else to fix these kinds of things because it cannot be eternal’.”
Fernandes urges United to forget Man City’s problems
Bruno Fernandes says United must focus on fixing their own problems ahead of the derby rather than thinking about City’s miserable recent form.
“It doesn’t change anything for us, how they are in this moment, because we have to think about ourselves,” the United skipper said.
“We all know that this is a huge game and they have huge players. They’re probably not winning as much as everyone would expect them to do.
“But we have to focus on ourselves because we’re not being at the level we want to be, so we can’t think about the momentum of the others.
“We just have to think about ourselves and do the job we have to do to get in better positions, and we need points in the league so it doesn’t matter who we play against.
“We know it’s City, a huge derby. We know what it means for the fans and it means a lot for us too, so we just have to go to the game and win without thinking who we have ahead.”
