Guardiola claims Arsenal could equal stunning Man City record with "almost perfect" claims

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has claimed that Arsenal could equal or break his side's record for the most points in a Premier League season.

Arsenal are currently top of the league table by eight points, having played a game more than City.

They have picked up 44 points from 17 games, although did miss the opportunity to gain two more points with a 0-0 draw against Newcastle at the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday night.

That was only the third time in the league all season that they have failed to win a game, with a 1-1 draw against Southampton and a 3-1 defeat to Manchester United the other occasions they have dropped points.

Should the Gunners continue for the rest of the campaign at their current points per game ratio, they would achieve 100 points on the last game of the season.

But Mikel Arteta's side have many tricky tests to come first, including two fixtures against City.

Guardiola believes Arsenal could be good enough to break the league points record set by his side, which is also 100 points.

Guardiola on Arsenal

Speaking prior to City's Premier League clash against Chelsea on Thursday, he said: "They have an average that they are going to do 100 points, or more than 100 points, the way they have done so far.

"If they continue in that way, we will not catch them. You have to be almost perfect, I would say, from here to the end of the season, and expect that they drop a little bit in performance.

"They were excellent against Newcastle again, so we will see what happens."

Arteta was part of City's coaching staff in the 2017/18 season, when they became the first team to achieve 100 points in the Premier League era.

There was late drama when they reached the feat on the final game of the season. Taking on Southampton, the Cityzens needed a 94th-minute winner from current Arsenal star Gabriel Jesus to hit 100 points.

City would need 64 points from their final 22 games to reach that landmark again, meaning they realistically must hope the Gunners drop more points than they have so far in the second half of the campaign.