Pep Guardiola says Manchester City have not made the Etihad a fortress yet

Saturday 5 October 2019 10:22, UK

Pep Guardiola does not believe Manchester City have created a fortress style environment at the Etihad Stadium despite their Premier League record there.

The champions have won 39 of their last 44 Premier League matches at home - a record they will hope to improve when they host Wolves on Sunday.

Although, Guardiola does not feel visiting teams are intimidated by the statistic and claims that his side's good results are down to their own hard work.

When asked if City have made the Etihad into a fortress, Guardiola replied: "My feeling is no.

"I cannot imagine when teams before the game are not thinking 'we can do it'.

"I know the managers and how competitive all of them are, how they'll try to seduce the players and say 'we can do it'. They'll be thinking 'we can go and do a good game'.

"Sometimes we don't win but when we do it is because we do something good.

"We have to try it against a team we know quite well. We have played many times against Nuno Espirito Santo's team in the Carabao Cup and league and other stuff."

Guardiola is proud of his side's home record and feels that has underpinned their title successes of the past two seasons.

He said: "In some moments you need luck to win games, to make a lot of points, win titles.

"But we have effort and very good things, so I'm proud of the effort and the way we have done it.

"Our first season [at City] was not consistent. We had problems. I didn't expect it when I landed here. I thought at home we would be strong and away tough but it was completely the opposite in the first season.

"But since then, the second season and third season and this season as well, we have been strong at home. To try to win titles you have to be strong at home or you have no chance."

Fernandinho is set to continue in central defence for City alongside Nicolas Otamendi, with John Stones and Aymeric Laporte still out injured.

It will be the 34-year-old Brazil midfielder's third game in just over a week, but Guardiola is confident he can handle it.

He said: "He didn't have many minutes in his legs before these three games. Except the last part of last season - in the previous seasons - he's played every three days over 11 months. So I think he can do it."