Rio Ferdinand says City’s clash with Newcastle could ‘alter’ Arsenal players’ minds
Rio Ferdinand says Manchester City’s early afternoon clash with Newcastle could ‘alter’ the minds of Arsenal’s players as they face Bournemouth later on in the day… as the title race enters its crucial phase
- Arsenal lead Manchester City by five points with 13 games of the season to go
- Pep Guardiola’s side face Newcastle in the day’s early kick off at the Etihad
- Mikel Arteta’s side take on Bournemouth later on as they look to cement place
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Former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand has said Arsenal‘s players will be more than aware of goings on at the Etihad prior to their clash with Bournemouth.
Arsenal lead Manchester City by five points as the season enters its crucial stage, though the reigning champions can cut that to just two, if only for a few hours, if they beat Newcastle.
Pointing to his own experiences of title races, Ferdinand said players do not block out of the outside noise of rivals’ results and said the proximity of televisions and mobile phones make it practically impossible to do.
‘There is no doubt in my mind that there will be televisions all over the place and players have their phones with the game on,’ he told BT Sport.
‘It will be in their mind. You can’t get away from it. It can alter your mind going into a game.
Rio Ferdinand has suggested Manchester City kicking off before Arsenal could impact the league leaders
Arsenal face Bournemouth later on on Saturday as they look to maintain lead over City
City face Newcastle in Saturday’s early game as they look to close the gap to two points – albeit potentially temporarily
‘I played games when I went out for the warm-up at the team we were fighting against were behind, came back in from the warm-up and they had turned it around and were winning.
‘We were like oh and having to jee players up against. We went out and drew the game, it can affect you if you don’t have players with the right experience to get you motivated for the game based on what the result it.’
Ferdinand was part of six title-winning sides at United, though was also involved in two gut-wrenching final days in which they saw the title slip away from them, in 2009-10 and, most notably, 2011-12.
Despite appearing to reel Arsenal in a few weeks ago by beating them at the Emirates, City once again find themselves trailing Mikel Arteta’s side in the title hunt.
Victory for Arsenal over Everton in the week ensured they capitalised on their game in hand to go five points clear of Pep Guardiola’s side.
Guardiola himself has predicted plenty of twists and turns to come over the next dozen or so games, with the Catalan going up against friend and one-time assistant Arteta.
‘In the Premier League we are close and the last 10 games will define the season,’ he said.
Pep Guardiola has said that the crucial stage of the season is about to begin as he expects twists and turns
‘I have the feeling in the Premier League many things will happen – teams will drop points. But we can’t drop many if we want to be there.
‘After Nottingham Forest, we were not consistent, now we are because we won one game.
‘The way we are playing is good, results could be better. Sometimes it happens in football. Results are not exceptional but it’s OK.
‘I have no complaints about how we are playing and how we are fighting. The mood in the locker room is exceptional and the guys are doing everything – that is enough for me.’
