Bacary Sagna on EPL title race, playing under Pep Guardiola and World Cup

Dubai: With Manchester City and Arsenal locked in a Premier League title race, few are better placed to predict the outcome than someone who has worked under both Pep Guardiola and Mikel Arteta during their playing career.

Bacary Sagna spent a season under the current City manager, while also sharing his time at the club with Arteta, who was then serving as Guardiola’s assistant.

Although the Frenchman holds strong ties to both Arsenal and Manchester City, having made a combined 370 appearances for the clubs, he remained confident when predicting this season’s Premier League winner amid an intense battle between the two sides.

“Arsenal have the advantage, they have been top of the table for the majority of the season and I think they will do it,” said Sagna.

“They have reached the Champions League final as well, which is a massive boost for them, so I think they’re not going to let go, this time they’re ready to go for it.”

Sagna joined Manchester City in 2014 after leaving Arsenal, where he had established himself as one of the Premier League’s most reliable full-backs.

He went on to spend three seasons at City and played under Guardiola during the Spaniard’s first campaign at the club. The French international featured 25 times for Guardiola before departing at the end of the 2016/17 season to join Italian side Benevento.

Since then, Guardiola has cemented his status as one of the Premier League’s greatest managers, winning six league titles with City.

Sagna, who currently coaches Dubai-based women’s side Banaat FC, reflected on what it was like to play under Guardiola and how the experience has shaped his own coaching career.

“Pep cares about the details,” explained Sagna.

“To be the player he wants you to be you must also care about the details as well as the discipline you need to have at home, you need to breath and live football.

“Tactically he’s very demanding, understanding football I think is the most important thing under Pep and I’m glad I got to work with him because it’s helped me as a coach here in Dubai.”

With the World Cup now less than a month away, France are once again among the favourites to lift the trophy, and Sagna believes Didier Deschamps’ side have what it takes to go all the way.

Having represented France at two World Cups himself, Sagna backed Les Bleus to get the job done, pointing to the squad’s experience, depth and winning mentality ahead of the tournament.

“I think they’re going to make it,” stated Sagna on France’s chances of winning the tournament.

“If you look at the last 12 years, we were in the quarter-final in Brazil, final in 2016, final and winning in 2018 and final again in 2022.

“When you look at the quality of the players, it’s a fresh team and a team that knows each other for a long time and it’s the last competition for the coach so it’s a good send off for him.”