Arsenal have Liverpool in sight but they are unconvincing title challengers​

Pep Guardiola has insisted he will “not give up” in his attempts to oversee a turnaround in Manchester City‘s fortunes after their draw with Everton left the club with one win from their last 13 games in all competitions.

City’s 1-1 home draw with Everton on Boxing Day left them down in seventh place, five points off the top four and 14 adrift of leaders Liverpool, who have a game in hand.

Guardiola said this week that City were at risk of missing out on Champions League qualification this season in what would be a shocking turn of events for the reigning champions.

The 53-year-old, who signed a two-year contract extension last month, said frustration over poor results has not affected his desire to steer City back to their previous top form.

“I will not give up. I want to do it. And with the situations that we have, we have to do it,” Guardiola said after Thursday’s match.

“Of course I want it. Everybody wants it. I don’t want to disappoint my people, in terms of the club, in terms of the fans, or the people who love this club.”

Guardiola said his team’s shocking run of results, the worst stretch in his mostly glittering managerial career, has helped him realise how good they were on their run of winning an unprecedented four consecutive Premier League titles.

“That makes me remember how good was the past,” he said. “That’s the truth, that has made me realise now what we have done, because sometimes you have injuries, and how many years we were incredibly, incredibly consistent.

“But, yeah, you expect a little bit down. We didn’t expect [this] much, and the main reason is having seven, eight important injured players.

“But I see the team, the spirit in training, how focused they are. And we saw [progress in Saturday’s] game, we saw it, but unfortunately we could not get the result that we wanted.”

Guardiola shook his head when asked whether his team’s slump had made him even more determined to please people.

“It has been since the arrival of my career as a football player, as a manager, I think every one of us in our job wants to please the people, we want to do good our jobs. That is undeniable. That is not a question mark, I would say.”

If City are to right the ship, the next few weeks could be the best time to do it. Sunday’s match at Leicester City is the first of four successive league games against teams in the bottom half of the table.

Cristiano Ronaldo has insisted that Manchester United‘s problems are not down to new manager Ruben Amorim, and believes he would be able to fix them if he was the club’s owner.

Amorim has lost five of his 10 games in charge of United — including four of the past five in the Premier League — and said ahead of the next game against Newcastle United that his job is not safe.

But Ronaldo, who scored 145 goals over two spells at United but has been critical of the club’s ownership, among other things in recent years, has said his countryman is not to blame.

“The Premier League it’s the most difficult league in the world,” Ronaldo, now playing for Al Nassr in Saudi Arabia, said at the Globe Soccer Awards in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on Friday.

“All the teams are good, all the teams fight, all the teams run, all the players are strong. Football is different right now. There’s no easy games anymore.

“I said this one and a half years ago, and I will continue to say it: The problem is not the coaches.

“It’s like an aquarium. If you have the fish inside and he’s sick and you take him out and you fix the problem and you put him again in an aquarium they will be sick again.

“The problem of Manchester United is the same. The problem is not always the coach. It’s much more than that.

“If I will be the owner of the club, I will make things clear and adjust what I think is bad there.”

Ronaldo’s comments followed him hinting at ownership of a “big club” in the near future.

“I’m not a coach. I’m never going to be a coach, president of the club? No. Maybe owner of the club,” he said.

“It will depend on the moment, the right opportunities.”

Asked if he had any in mind, Ronaldo cryptically responded: “Not yet. A few, maybe.”

But questioned about contact with the Glazers directly, Ronaldo said: “I’m still very young, I have so many plans and dreams ahead.

“But mark my words, I will be owner of a big club. For sure.”

Ronaldo left United in 2022 following a public fallout with Erik ten Hag and a TV interview where Ronaldo made a number of explosive claims, including that the owners — the Glazer family — “don’t care about the club.”

Since Ronaldo’s exit, Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s Ineos Group have assumed control of football operations, while Ten Hag was sacked before the hiring of Amorim. But Ronaldo still feels problems persist.

Asked about Amorim, the Portugal forward was complimentary as he said: “He did a fantastic job in Portugal with my club Sporting. But the Premier League is a different beast, it’s a different league, it’s the most competitive league in the world.

“I knew it would be tough and they would continue the storm, but the storm will finish and the sun will rise. Fingers crossed things will be good with him and I hope the best for Manchester United because this is a club I still love.”

At the awards, Ronaldo was named Best Middle East Player of 2024 after a strong year in Saudi Arabia.

Bukayo Saka has undergone surgery on a hamstring injury and is set to be sidelined until March, Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta confirmed on Friday.

The 23-year-old sustained a tear to the muscle in his right leg during the first half of last Saturday’s 5-1 win at Crystal Palace.

“He had a procedure, everything went well,” Arteta told a news conference after Arsenal’s win over Ipswich. “But unfortunately he will be out for many, many weeks.”

Pushed further to clarify an exact time frame, Arteta said: “I said ‘many weeks’ so I think it will be more than two months. I don’t know exactly how much longer. I think it will depend on how the scar tissue starts to heal the first week or so, the mobility of that. Let’s see. Very difficult to say.”

The Gunners laboured in Saka’s absence as Kai Havertz‘s 23rd-minute close-range finish was enough to move Arteta’s side up into second place, six points adrift of Premier League leaders Liverpool.

Arteta was more upbeat about Raheem Sterling‘s prognosis after Arsenal initially feared the winger would also be sidelined for a lengthy period due to a knee problem.

“The news with Raz I think is better,” he said. “We have to see this week how he evolves, but we expected the knee injury to probably take longer than the way the knee has evolved the last few days. That is good because we need him.”

MANCHESTER, England — There was a moment during stoppage time at the Etihad Stadium when Phil Foden swept the ball out to Bernardo Silva. With the score at 1-1, it was one final chance for Manchester City to scrape a winner against Everton. But it came to nothing. Silva’s cross was rushed and panicked — too words not usually associated with Pep Guardiola’s serial winners.

This, though, is City’s new reality. The spark that has inspired four straight Premier League titles has disappeared over the past two months. A group of players who once found excellence so easy to come by now look like they’re battling a chronic lack of self-confidence.

Silva scored the opener against Everton but also missed a glorious chance to make it 2-0. Quite why he opted to use the outside of his boot and hit his shot first time rather than taking a calming touch and pass the ball into the net, only he will know. Again, it was rushed and panicked, but Silva wasn’t alone in making mistakes. Erling Haaland missed a second-half penalty as City stretched their miserable run to just one win from their past 13 games in all competitions.

It says everything about City’s drop-off that Everton didn’t look like they were trying to win for much of the game and still should have snatched it at the end. In the last of six minutes of injury time, Everton had four players breaking against two City defenders, with the resulting shot from Jack Harrison blocked before it could reach goalkeeper Stefan Ortega. It saved City from further embarrassment, but the eventual draw didn’t stop boos from ringing round the Etihad at the final whistle.

“We played really good but we are in the period right now that is what happens,” Guardiola said afterward. “We create, we concede the first time [they] arrive [in the penalty area]. But yeah, [we] keep going.

“That is the momentum in the situation that everything takes more time to make it work. Football is about winning, scoring goals and not conceding, and always we’ve done it until the last month and a half. Now we’re not able to do it.”

This was supposed to mark the start of City’s revival. Everton at home kicks off a run that includes Leicester, West Ham, Brentford, Ipswich and an FA Cup tie against League Two side Salford City. All of them will kick off against City as underdogs, but the relative ease with which Everton handled Haaland & Co. will spread hope that positive results are possible whatever the odds.

City’s aura of invincibility has been shattered and in its place there’s an anxiety that has infected almost everything. When Silva missed his golden opportunity to make it 2-0 midway through the first half, Foden — who laid on the pass — spun round and screamed in anger. On the touchline, Guardiola arched his back in frustration. In the past, these minor setbacks would have meant very little. Now it feels like things are so difficult that City can’t afford to pass up those chances. Foden and Guardiola seemed to know it, too.

Jordan Pickford expertly saved Haaland’s 53rd-minute penalty, but the only other close call for Everton came from a Josko Gvardiol header which hit the post. Haaland’s penalty was his only shot on target and one of just 22 touches. It’s now one goal in seven Premier League games for the double Golden Boot winner. Even the robotic Norway international seems to be suffering from self-doubt and when a cross was later lofted into the box, he chose to head it back toward Foden rather than go for goal himself.

Afterward, Guardiola spoke about his players not being able to “bounce back mentally” after the penalty miss; counterpart Sean Dyche, meanwhile, admitted there’s a different feeling around the Etihad these days.

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Why Pep Guardiola is now the one to blame for City’s poor form

Luis Miguel Echegaray explains why he blames Pep Guardiola for Manchester City’s poor run after their 1-1 draw against Everton on Boxing Day.

“They are getting heavily questioned for the first time,” Dyche, whose team has taken points off Arsenal, Chelsea and City in its past three games, said. “Does that give you an opportunity? It is not easy to take advantage of it. You know [it’s there] because of the noise around it.

“It is the first period of questions, but the prowess they have shown year after year, it’s pretty impressive to have the first period after all the years and trophies, so certainly the maximum respect. I do think they are due one and will open someone up but we worked hard to make sure it didn’t happen today.”

Guardiola can only hope that a few of the eight senior players missing against Everton are back when City travel to Leicester on Sunday. Beyond that, he’s praying that the January transfer window can offer a solution to some of his problems.

“The transfer window in the winter is not easy,” he said. “Even the players know that we have to add some new players. We have a lot [of injuries] and this is a problem. Sometimes it is not easy. We have to try because this is sustained for a long time.”

Having players fit again and getting a few extra bodies through the door in January will help, but the bigger issue facing Guardiola is how he lifts the confidence of a squad that has been battered and bruised by this unprecedented run. Sheikh Mansour’s money will fill some of the gaps in the dressing room. Repairing the self-belief of his players might be harder to achieve.