Pep Guardiola not fooled by Fulham kite-flying video

admin admin | 05-11 00:16

Pep Guardiola has no doubt Fulham will "do everything" to beat Manchester City on Saturday no matter how much fun they have had in training.

Video footage circulated this week of some of Fulham's squad flying kites at the club’s training ground during a lighter moment in their schedule.

That prompted some fans of City’s title rivals Arsenal to question whether the mid-table Cottagers will have their minds fully on the job as they prepare to host the champions on Saturday.

The Gunners need a favour from another club in the final week of the season if they are to deny City a fourth successive Premier League crown.

"On that I don’t know what you are talking about, I never saw anything," said Guardiola when asked about the Fulham video at his pre-match press conference.

"But I never met one player or manager who, when they start to play, wasn’t focused to win the game, never ever in my life.

"When they play in front of their fans, they want to perform well and will do everything to beat us, like we are going to do everything to beat them."

City head to Craven Cottage trailing leaders Arsenal by one point but, significantly, have played one game less.

Arsenal are then in action at Manchester United on Sunday before City play their game in hand at Tottenham in midweek.

The season then concludes the following weekend with City hosting West Ham and Arsenal taking on Everton.

Asked if he would become a United fan for the weekend, Guardiola said: "I’m a City fan, trying to beat Fulham. That’s all I’m concerned with."

City have a fully-fit squad available and are refreshed having had no midweek action this week.

"I would have preferred to play the semi-finals of the Champions League, to be honest, but unfortunately we could not be there," said Guardiola, whose side’s European title defence ended with quarter-final defeat to Real Madrid.

"But you never know, we adapt to what we have. When we have three days we adapt, when we have a long week we adapt."

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