Guardiola Issues Rallying Cry to Fans as Man City Host Arsenal in ‘Final’

Football - FA Cup - Semi Final - Manchester City v Sheffield United - Wembley Stadium, London, Britain - April 22, 2023 Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola acknowledges fans after the match. (Reuters)
Football - FA Cup - Semi Final - Manchester City v Sheffield United - Wembley Stadium, London, Britain - April 22, 2023 Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola acknowledges fans after the match. (Reuters)
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Guardiola Issues Rallying Cry to Fans as Man City Host Arsenal in ‘Final’

Football - FA Cup - Semi Final - Manchester City v Sheffield United - Wembley Stadium, London, Britain - April 22, 2023 Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola acknowledges fans after the match. (Reuters)
Football - FA Cup - Semi Final - Manchester City v Sheffield United - Wembley Stadium, London, Britain - April 22, 2023 Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola acknowledges fans after the match. (Reuters)

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has urged fans to turn up the volume in their top-of-the-table clash with Arsenal at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday as his side look to take control of the Premier League title race.

Arsenal have lost significant ground in recent weeks, with three successive draws leaving them five points clear of City but having played two games more.

"Wednesday is a final against a team that has been the best team in England so far and is five points ahead of us," Guardiola told reporters.

"I know even though they have drawn the last three games, the way they play in big, big parts of the game, it is difficult to stop ... It's a massive, important game for us. We know winning will give us a step to putting it completely in our hands.

"The Premier League is 11 months working, working, working. And we want to take this opportunity. We cannot do it alone. Hopefully all the Etihad will be full three hours before the game."

Guardiola has previously criticized the club's supporters for failing to get behind the team. After a 4-2 comeback victory over Tottenham Hotspur in January, Guardiola said fans had been "silent for 45 minutes".



Swiatek: Losing at French Open Lifted the Pressure for Wimbledon

Tennis - Wimbledon - All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, London, Britain - July 10, 2025 Poland's Iga Swiatek celebrates after winning her semi final match against Switzerland's Belinda Bencic REUTERS/Stephanie Lecocq
Tennis - Wimbledon - All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, London, Britain - July 10, 2025 Poland's Iga Swiatek celebrates after winning her semi final match against Switzerland's Belinda Bencic REUTERS/Stephanie Lecocq
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Swiatek: Losing at French Open Lifted the Pressure for Wimbledon

Tennis - Wimbledon - All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, London, Britain - July 10, 2025 Poland's Iga Swiatek celebrates after winning her semi final match against Switzerland's Belinda Bencic REUTERS/Stephanie Lecocq
Tennis - Wimbledon - All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, London, Britain - July 10, 2025 Poland's Iga Swiatek celebrates after winning her semi final match against Switzerland's Belinda Bencic REUTERS/Stephanie Lecocq

There are few benefits to losing in the semi-finals of a Grand Slam but when Iga Swiatek had her fingers prised off the French Open trophy, it had one unexpected benefit -- it lifted the pressure off her shoulders heading into Wimbledon.

Swiatek crushed Switzerland's Belinda Bencic 6-2 6-0 to reach the Wimbledon final on Thursday after years of trying and failing to make a major impact at the grasscourt Grand Slam.

She has made no secret of her preference for clay courts and her four French Open titles were clear evidence that Paris's red dirt was more to her liking than Wimbledon's lawns, Reuters reported.

Yet her defeat to Aryna Sabalenka in the French Open semi-finals in early June ended her chances of a fourth straight title in Paris and ensured few were tipping her for a career-best run at Wimbledon.

"I think I'm not going to have seasons where the pressure is not going to be kind of forced on me from the expectations from the outside anymore," she said after setting up a Saturday showdown against American Amanda Anisimova.

"Every year I guess it's kind of the same but I feel sometimes I can handle it better or ignore it. Sometimes a bit worse.

"I don't know. Like, honestly, I think it's easier if you haven't won Roland Garros and also if you had more time to practice.

"If I win Roland Garros and then I come here and everybody ask me already about... They put, like, super high expectations."

Five-times Grand Slam winner Swiatek was in a league of her own on a scorching Centre Court on Thursday, blitzing past Tokyo Olympic champion Bencic in the blink of an eye.

She has dropped only one set in her run to the final and suddenly looks at home on grass, a surface she has previously struggled to master.

"Every point is different and every match I need to adjust my game but for sure I feel like I improved my movement," she said, summing up what had changed for her on the surface. "I’m serving really well and I feel really confident, so I’m just going for it and it’s working so I will keep doing that."