**Pep Guardiola**looked ahead to the challenge that awaits **Man City**on derby day at Old Trafford.
The Citizens kickstarted their campaign in September with a 3-0 win over their local rivals, and they have risen to second spot in the Premier League table, sitting six points off league leaders Arsenal.
Now, they must look to close the gap to the Gunners with a victory against an outfit coached by a new leader for the first time. Ruben Amorim was relieved from his job as the head coach of Man United at the beginning of the month, and after a brief interim spell for Darren Fletcher, duties have now gone to Michael Carrick, who reprises the role he took on for three fixtures in the 2021/22 season.
City continue to be without three key central defenders in their matchday squad, having just spent £20 million on the services of Marc Guehi as a reinforcement at the back from Crystal Palace. It is not the first time that the manager has been in a situation where he has had to manage a stretched squad, but he hopes that the trio returns soon enough to keep the title aspirations of the club alive and well.
*"If you don't have more info of the opponent, you focus on yourself and the players. You can have some ideas of what Middlesbrough has done or when Michael was in his part as a manager at Man United, but tactics is about the players, and the players are different to the Middlesbrough ones.*
"I don't have a timeout after 10 minutes to tell them what Michael wants to do. When you don't have info it's better to focus on yourself.
*"Without John Stones, Ruben Dias, Josko Gvardiol we are in a difficult situation not for one game but a long period... Ruben will be back soon, Josko no, John hopefully, we'll see.”*