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Pep Guardiola has praised Manchester City for turning their form around to become the best-performing Premier League team in 2025 and warned rivals they will improve once Rodri returns to full fitness.
Despite a rare trophyless season, City go to Sunderland on New Year’s Day with 2025’s best points-per-game ratio, narrowly ahead of Arsenal, who played two more league matches.
“At the end of last season, what we have done, overcome the problems that we had, one of the best seasons we have had as a team,” Guardiola said. “The guys who were there all season, the staff and backroom staff was arguably one of the best that we had. Because it’s how you overcome the problems. In this perspective, now every time when I reflect on what happened last season, I’m more proud than ever about what we have done as a club, how we handled the bad, bad situations.”
Rodri, who completed 90 minutes in the Premier League twice in 2025, is available after a hamstring injury. The midfielder missed most of the year because of a cruciate ligament injury sustained in September 2024, which sparked a poor run of form for City, and further setbacks.
City sit five points behind Arsenal with a game in hand, having been 14 points off the top at this point last year. They invested heavily last January, spending £172m on signings.
“Without those players we wouldn’t be in the Champions League this season,” Guardiola said. “I think we would have been playing in the Conference [League] without those signings. Basically we didn’t have players for a long, long time, and the moment with the new players and then with three-quarters of the season gone others came back, we were the best team in the Premier League in the last 10 to 15 games in the season. Sometimes you have to take a decision as you don’t expect something.
“When we had all the seasons as a squad, we were competing like we are doing this season and obviously, come on, with Rodri we are a stronger team. There’s no doubt about that.”
This winter window is expected to be quieter but a deal for Bournemouth’s Antoine Semenyo is close to completion. The winger is keen on a move to City, despite interest from elsewhere. He played in the 2-2 draw at Chelsea on Tuesday, creating two goals with long throws, a threat Guardiola has admitted is absent from his squad.
