"Now we know exactly what we're playing for. It took us several months to get to this phase of the championship and have our chances in hand," admitted the Catalan.
"Obviously, they also want to have their chances in hand because if they win, everything will depend on them. Their fate will be in their hands. But if we win, fate will be in our hands," he said.
The Gunners currently have five points more than the defending champions, but they have played two more games. City could therefore theoretically outpace them by one unit.
If Arsenal win at the Etihad, which they have not done since 2015, before Pep arrived on the City bench, they will be eight points ahead, but with a fairly high final schedule, which relativizes the weight of Wednesday's game.
"It's a very, very important game because we can take points and our biggest rival might not take points," he admitted, but it's "not decisive because there are still a lot of complicated games to play," he said.
After this match, there are 5 league games left for the Londoners and 7 for City who are also still in contention in the semi-finals of the Champions League against Real Madrid and for the final of the FA Cup, in early June, against Manchester United.
Arsenal remain on three disappointing draws that have melted their lead, while Manchester are unbeaten in their last nine Premier League meetings, eight of which have been won.
© 2023 AFP