Guardiola anticipates Man City’s long-awaited third consecutive victory over Salford

Normally, Manchester City wouldn’t consider winning three straight games a significant accomplishment, but following his team’s recent severe collapse, manager Pep Guardiola is now eagerly awaiting that milestone in Saturday’s FA Cup matchup with Salford City.

Before stopping the decline with consecutive Premier League victories against Leicester City and West Ham United, City mysteriously collapsed in the run-up to Christmas, winning just one game in 13 across all competitions.

Premier League winners City last won three games in a row in October, when a 2-1 loss to Tottenham Hotspur ended a five-game winning streak.

The Spaniard claimed that his team, currently sixth in the Premier League standings, would greatly benefit from a third straight victory, even if it came at home against fourth-tier Salford.

“Well, I’ve spent the last eight years residing in Salford. We’ll play my own neighborhood, which isn’t my hometown, but it’s my town and home,” Guardiola informed reporters on Friday.

“I have a lot of respect for their manager, Karl Robinson, because they have won six of their past six games. Hopefully, we can play well and win three straight. This hasn’t occurred in a very long time.

Salford is partially owned by Gary and Phil Neville, David Beckham, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, Nicky Butt, and other legendary players from City’s rivals Manchester United.

Guardiola responded, “I’m not good at that,” when asked if he would be interested in owning a team in the future. I’m not a good businessman, but I can be a decent manager at times.

“The Salford-owning players’ generation earned a lot of money and won numerous titles. However, they are also intelligent individuals.

“I’m pretty sure of that and when the people from football run football clubs, always they take smart decisions.”

Goalie Ederson may play on Saturday, but Guardiola said that defenders Ruben Dias and John Stones as well as midfielder Oscar Bobb are not yet ready to play against Salford.

Dias is not yet ready, but she feels better. I’m not sure when he’ll be. Oscar is part of the team’s training. The bone was broken. John Stones is not feeling well, but Ederson is.