Mikel Arteta's men lead by six points at the top of the table, but City have home advantage at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday and a game in hand on the leaders.
Should Guardiola's side win the battle between the top two and at struggling Burnley on Wednesday, they would go top for the first time in months.
Aiming to win a first league title in 22 years, Arsenal appear to have hit the wall in recent weeks.
Defeat to City in the League Cup final last month has sparked a run of just one win in five games in all competitions.
However, Guardiola is wary of the challenge facing his side in the coming weeks with tricky visits to Everton and Bournemouth in the run-in.
"If we lose, yeah, it's over," said Guardiola at his pre-match press conference on Friday. "But the other two results, knowing that Arsenal didn't win (against) Bournemouth, we still have games to play.
"Six games is a lot, given our calendar (run-in) especially."
Guardiola confirmed that Nico O'Reilly, who scored both goals in the League Cup final, is fit despite coming off injured in last weekend's 3-0 win at Chelsea.
Captain Ruben Dias, though, remains sidelined.
© 2026 AFP