Pep Guardiola urges Manchester City players to get ‘heads up’ for visit of Chelsea

An outwardly sanguine Pep Guardiola suggested he was reasonably content with a hard-fought point at Sunderland after watching his Manchester City side lose ground on Arsenal at the top of the Premier League.

The 0-0 draw at the Stadium of Light leaves City second, four points behind Mikel Arteta’s leaders but Guardiola was not too downhearted. “I’ll take the point against this team at this stadium,” said a good-humoured Guardiola who seemed unaffected by reports that Enzo Maresca, once his assistant at the Etihad Stadium, had discussed the possibility of relocating to Manchester later this year with figures associated to City. “It was a really good game.”

Maresca’s sacking by Chelsea dictates Guardiola – who said the second-half injury that forced Savinho off did not “look good” – does not know quite what to expect when the London side visit the Etihad on Sunday. “The guys [players] are a bit head down but we have to be heads up in three days when we have a difficult game against Chelsea,” he said after seeing his team’s eight-match winning run in all competitions come to an end.

“Sunderland are really good, they are so strong, so physical. It’s a tough place to come. In the first half we struggled against their pressing. Then Rodri came on and broke their lines and the second half was excellent. I was very pleased with the performance but we could not convert our chances in the six-yard box. We just missed a finishing touch. It’s a mystery that we could not score.

Régis Le Bris, Sunderland’s manager, was delighted to see his promoted side preserve their unbeaten home record. “It’s one more good point against one of the best teams in Europe,” he said. “We defended well and we were bold enough to press high. I think we showed many good things with the ball as well. We were able to manage the ball and to breathe and we created chances. Our standards are high.”