• 8 months ago
Our reporter Michael Plant provides the latest from Manchester City's media centre ahead of the Premier League trip to Brighton.
Transcript
00:00 I'm at Manchester City's media centre where this afternoon Pep Guardiola held his press conference ahead of Thursday's Premier League trip to Brighton.
00:07 I think the big talking point straight away is that he confirmed that Erling Haaland will not be involved.
00:12 In the trip down to the south coast he picked up an injury last week against Real Madrid.
00:17 It meant that he had to come off after 90 minutes when the game went to extra time.
00:20 He missed the FA Cup semi-final against Chelsea and still isn't going to be involved.
00:26 On the south coast, as I say, against Brighton, Guardiola said it's not an injury he's concerned about but it does rule him out of this game.
00:33 Obviously a match that City really feel that they're probably going to have to win to keep pace with Arsenal at the top of the table.
00:40 City, if they do win their two matches in hand, would go first but they would need to win both of those to go above Arsenal who are four points clear at the moment and have a better goal difference.
00:47 So pressure really is on Pep Guardiola and Manchester City.
00:50 As I say, Haaland not involved but he did confirm that Jon Stones and Phil Foden are going to be available.
00:56 So Haaland is actually the only injury concerned.
00:58 I mentioned the title race and the pressure on City at the moment but Guardiola said that if you'd have offered him this position at the start of the season,
01:04 he certainly would have taken it given the pressure of last season and winning the treble and the impact it's had on the squad and just how much it's taken out of them mentally and physically.
01:15 So he's delighted that they've got to this late stage of the season and still are involved in that title race.
01:21 He's also interestingly asked about Brighton's Roberto Di Zerbi, a man who has actually been linked with a couple of big jobs around Europe at the moment.
01:28 Reports a couple of months ago suggested he could one day be the man to replace Guardiola at City.
01:33 But he said that even though it's been a difficult season for Brighton for a number of reasons, injuries being a big one,
01:38 but he said that his admiration has only grown for Di Zerbi over the last couple of years which is high praise from someone like Pep Guardiola.
01:45 And finally he was asked about the infamous posts from Nottingham Forest on X about refereeing standards and impartiality and Guardiola said it's not a concern for him.
01:54 He acknowledged referees make mistakes, perhaps under too much pressure, too much scrutiny.
01:59 But said that he doesn't have any concern about the impartiality of referees and certainly not an issue for him.
02:06 for him but as I say big game for Manchester City against Brighton on Thursday night in the Premier League.

Recommended