Man City manager Pep Guardiola has warned that Newport County’s players will be stronger and taller than his Premier League Champions when the two sides meet tomorrow evening in the FA Cup fifth round.
League Two outfit Newport have already taken the scalps of Leicester and Middlesbrough so far during their cup run, and Guardiola is expecting a tough game when his side travel to Rodney Parade.
“They are taller and stronger than us. In some areas they will be better than us,” Guardiola said in his pre-match press conference.
“They have done incredibly well in this competition. What they do, they do really well. We have watched many games to see what they do.”
Man City were on the end of a giant killing when Wigan knocked them out of last seasons competition, and the former Barcelona coach certainly isn’t underestimating Newport.
“It is the cup. We know what happened last season at Wigan,” Guardiola added.
“Anything can happen. We will take this very seriously.
“Normally we play in the Premier League games and our players already know what opponents do.
“[Newport] have players who have scored 14 or 15 goals; they are incredible on the set pieces.”