Pep Guardiola has claimed that Manchester United and a host of other Premier League sides like to sit deep and defend, whenever they face his team.

The Manchester City boss made the claim while speaking after his side recorded a narrow and controversial 1-0 victory against Everton last weekend. 

In his words, “In the Premier League, except Liverpool, Brighton, Arsenal, Aston Villa and Leeds, the rest sit back. Maybe we provoke them.

“Let me think about it, maybe I’m forgetting someone. Honestly, I’m not saying [there is] anything wrong [with that]. Every manager, every team can do whatever they want, absolutely. It’s in our hands how to break them .

“When teams sit back, how we have to do it. One of the principles is be patient, don’t concede goals, don’t concede deep runs from them, counter attacks and be patient and in the right moment we can do it. Let’s continue doing it like this.”

City and United meet at the Etihad this Sunday, and ahead of the game, it appears Pep is already playing mind games.

The last time United played City, it ended 2-0 in their favour, but we have a new manager now, and it should be interesting to see how this one plays out.