Vincent Kompany predicts Thursday s Premier League clash with Arsenal will be Manchester City s toughest of the season because they will be facing a wounded animal .
City defeated the Gunners with minimal fuss on Sunday to lift the EFL Cup, with Kompany, Sergio Aguero and David Silva getting the goals in a 3-0 win.
Arsenal came under heavy criticism for their performance, particularly from television pundits Thierry Henry and Gary Neville, the latter accusing them of giving up and being spineless .
The teams face each other again on Thursday, this time at Emirates Stadium in the Premier League, and Kompany says City need to be prepared for a real scrap if they want to go 16 points clear of second-placed Manchester United again.
My opinion is simple, Kompany said. I think it s going to be the hardest game of the season
If my experience counts for anything you will play a wounded animal, with a lot of quality in the team.
Same team Different day Come on City!
— Manchester City (@ManCity)
At the same time, we are going to do everything we can to still be relentless.
But my experience is that when you win a trophy there is always that 10 per cent you lose in focus or sharpness, just because you ve gone through all the emotion of winning something. It s our role to fight it and be prepared for the game.
Victory at Arsenal will take City one step closer to a seemingly inevitable Premier League title triumph and Kompany is adamant Pep Guardiola s work last season although criticised at the time – laid the foundation for their brilliant 2017-18 campaign.
Kompany said: There s no doubt in my mind that Pep deserves more than he s even attributed to at the moment for how we ve developed as a team.
It s entirely his vision, entirely his work and we have the responsibility to bring it across on the pitch which is obviously not nothing.
There s a lot of leadership that s helped us to get this far. Last season is something that I will always argue about because I don t think we had a bad season. A lot of what we ve done this season has been developed out of what we did last season.
We were getting punished in many ways, like what happened against Wigan [Athletic] in the FA Cup, where they had one chance and scored and we had plenty of chances we missed.
That happened throughout the season last season and that s been the difference with this season, where we ve scored last-minute goals and the players have raised their individual performance levels. I was never worried because with good players these things eventually become good.
