Eddie Howe has warned Arsenal that Manchester City are getting back to their best form under Pep Guardiola after Newcastle United’s FA Cup exit.
City ran out deserving 3-1 winners over Newcastle within the FA Cup fifth round at St James’ Park on Saturday night to secure their place within the quarter-final draw.
Harvey Barnes had given Newcastle the lead within the 18th minute but City equalised through Savinho before a second-half double from Omar Marmoush sealed the win for Guardiola’s men.
Meanwhile, City currently sit seven points behind Arsenal within the Premier League table after they were held at home to a 2-2 draw by Nottingham Forest earlier this week.
But Howe believes City at the moment are hitting top form and claims Guardiola’s side have been ‘the perfect team’ Newcastle have faced this season.
‘I feel that they [City] made changes to their team but I feel you see the strength in depth that they’ve they usually possess,’ Howe said after Newcastle’s defeat.
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‘I feel that was probably a step too far for us today against them once they’re in that mood, I assumed they were excellent and we fell away in the sport.
‘We looked as if it would lose our energy but they try this to you because they keep the ball so well, they make you run, they make you chase, then you definately’re drained and also you make one other technical mistake and also you’re chasing again.
‘They’ve done that for years. That’s why, for me, they’ve been the perfect team that we’ve continually faced and today I assumed they were in a extremely good place and we just fell out of energy.
‘I don’t think it was necessarily a tactical problem for us, it was more the way in which they play and the way good they’re technically. They took a stranglehold of the ball and after we got it back we gave it away too easily, possibly looking too vertical and never horizontal enough at times.
‘Then as soon as you make a technical mistake against them you’re not seeing the ball again for long periods after which your energy just drains away.
‘That’s why they’ve been the perfect team for therefore long and I feel they’re coming back into the kind of form that makes them that team again. They’re evolving into a unique version of what they’ve been before but very, very effective.’
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