Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has responded to Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola regarding his comments on the Citizens' squad being exhausted.
After securing City's path to the Champions League semi-finals on Wednesday night following a 4-1 aggregate win over Bayern Munich, Guardiola said: "Every time we play FA Cup after this competition we are exhausted, the team are exhausted, so I don’t know how we are going to recover to play against Sheffield [United].
"We are playing Saturday, we cannot play on Sunday because of course [Manchester] United have Europa League. It’s so demanding and I don’t know how far we will arrive because now it is a tough moment for the game on Saturday."
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Arteta was then quizzed on Guardiola's comments and was asked if his side were suffering from similar burnout issues, to which he replied by saying: "My players today are really looking forward for tomorrow to get the game that we want and the result that we want, to play in front of our crowd again.
"There’s seven games left, we have four at the Emirates which is for them a big thing. We’re looking forward to it."
Next up for the Gunners is a Friday evening clash against Southampton at the Emirates Stadium. The two sides played out a 1-1 draw in the reverse fixture earlier this season.
Arteta and co will then travel to Manchester to take on title rivals City at the Etihad on Wednesday night, a match that is likely to be pivotal in deciding who will win this season's Premier League title.
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