Guardiola downplays Howe praise, calls Semenyo ‘a really nice guy’

Manchester City Head coach Pep Guardiola downplayed praise for Eddie Howe after the Newcastle The boss claimed his side were the toughest team in the world to play over two matches.

Both Premier League The giants meet on Tuesday evening at St James’ Park for the first clash, with a trip to Wembley at stake.

The Magpies won 2-1 the last time these two met in November, with Harvey Barnes scoring the winner.

Since then, City have established themselves as Arsenal’s biggest title challengers, while Newcastle have reversed their poor start to the campaign to return themselves to the top half of the table.

Speaking before the match, Guardiola admitted he was losing sleep over how to stop a formidable Toon team in front of his home crowd.

He said: “I didn’t sleep last night thinking about how my genius could come up with a plan for Eddie Howe.

“Many years since Eddie Howe took over, look how many games they’ve won at the last minute – thanks to the crowd’s push. It’s always been like that for a long time.

“In this stadium it’s special. The semi-finals, against Arsenal and Chelsea, it would be as difficult as Newcastle. I don’t think it should be any different.

“It’s not about winning or not winning trophies, it’s about how the team grows, how the team improves.

“Last season we didn’t deserve to win more than one trophy because we didn’t play well. The satisfaction of winning a trophy when we weren’t playing well can happen – the round of 16 being lucky.

“It’s not about that, believe me. We’re here for the team to play better, the satisfaction of having a good match for us and our fans to say: ‘We had fun for 95 minutes!’ That’s the point.

“And the next game, the things we can do better, do it better! That’s the goal, and it’s always been like that. And when you’re in that process, at the end you’re fighting for the titles and you can win them.”

Semenyo ready to go

Guardiola will have new signing Antoine Semenyo to call on for the trip to Tyneside, after the rules changed last year allowing players who change clubs to play for their new team in the same competition.

The former Bournemouth man scored and assisted on his debut in the 10-1 FA Cup defeat to Exeter at the weekend, and already looks at home in a City kit.

Semenyo scored the winner against Tottenham with his finishing touch for the Cherries in the Premier League, and Guardiola will be hoping his prolific form continues into the second half of the season.

Of the new signing, he said: “The impression was that he was a really nice guy. Few of the actions he showed were the ones he showed at Bournemouth and I hope he can continue to do that here.”