Guardiola Claims Man City Have the Smallest Squad in Premier League

• Manchester City kept pace with Arsenal in the race for the Premier League title with a win over Aston Villa
• The two sides will square off at the Emirates Stadium in a top-of-the-table encounter on Wednesday
• Pep Guardiola has since made an outlandish claim ahead of the match which fans have completely rejected

Pep Guardiola is referred to as a chequebook manager by some fans, who claim the success he has achieved in the sport is down to his spending.

The Spanish manager is reputable for building a very expensive and deep squad, where each position has at least two good players competing for it.

However, Guardiola has now made a claim about the size of the current Man City squad which football fans - particularly rival supporters - do not agree with.

Guardiola: City have small squad

Speaking after the 3-1 win over the Villans, Guardiola claimed Man City have the smallest squad in the Premier League, as quoted by SuperSport.

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''We have just 18, 19 players. Our depth is so, so small, maybe the smallest one in the Premier League by far. It's important that we don't have injuries,'' he said.

While Guardiola seemed to frame this in the context of Erling Haaland's injury, his comment was nullified by the fact that Portuguese full-back, João Cancelo was loaned out to Bayern Munich in January without a replacement, as reported by Bundesliga.

Fans' react to Guardiola's comment

Fans have varying opinions about the manager's claim, with some agreeing on his assessments.

By contrast, others blamed this on sales without replacement and Guardiola's failure to promote players from the youth team.

@kassianthuddy wrote:

"HAD HE PROMOTED MORE YOUNG PLAYERS SINCE JOINING CITY maybe they wouldn’t be in this mess"

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@speshh7 wrote

"Because you don’t have a good youth system"

@Lwamo_420 wrote:

"Lol Pep gotta stop playing. His bench players walk into most EPL starting 11s"

@ForeverKabelo wrote:

"Why do Pep and Klopp love making themselves seem like underdogs by making these weird statements"

Weeks ago, City were 3-0 up at half-time in the FA Cup game against Chelsea, with Kevin De Bruyne, Ilkay Gundogan, John Stones, Nathan Aké, Ederson and Haaland on the bench, as noted by ESPN.

Guardiola's update on Haaland injury

Sports Brief earlier reported on Guardiola providing updates on Haaland's injury, after the striker was brought off at 3-0 against Aston Villa.

The manager revealed the Norwegian got a knock and felt uncomfortable, stating it was not worth the risk to keep him on.

In case Haaland is not fit, World Cup winner, Julian Alvarez will undoubtedly get the nod against league leaders, Arsenal on Wednesday night.