Manchester City must avoid Arsenal in bid to win back-to-back Champions League titles - Joleon Lescott

Manchester City must avoid facing Arsenal in their bid to win back-to-back UEFA Champions League titles, believes the club's ex-defender Joleon Lescott.

Pep Guardiola's team welcome FC Copenhagen to the Etihad Stadium for the second leg of their Champions League last-16 tie on Wednesday, having secured a 3-1 win in the first leg.

Arsenal find themselves 1-0 down to Porto heading into their second leg at home, but Lescott believes Mikel Arteta's side are better equipped to deal with City than any other team left in the competition.

"I’m confident for City to win [the trophy] as long as they avoid Arsenal," Lescott told TNT Sports.

"We’ll probably expect every predictable team to go through the tie – Arsenal and Porto are fairly similar in terms of their league stature – but I think that Arsenal would understand and have slightly less respect and fear for Man City.

"With Real Madrid, as much as they are the team for the Champions League, they’re not used to playing the way City make you play. Whether you like it or not, whoever you are – Bayern Munich, PSG, Real Madrid – you’re going to be pushed back and are you used to that?

"Are you used to defending for 70% of the game rather than being in possession? I think Arsenal have a better understanding of that so over two legs, I think they have a better chance than other teams. In a final, you just don’t know."

The Gunners have already beaten City on two occasions this season with a penalty shoot-out victory in the Community Shield and a 1-0 victory in the Premier League in October.

Lescott explained that last season's triumph in the competition showed that City have the experience to go all the way, and the semi-final victory over Madrid played a huge role.

"I don’t think Arsenal are the best fitted to beat everyone else. I think City’s worst team they could face, would be Arsenal [over two legs]," he added. "I would be more nervous facing Arsenal than against Real Madrid."

"Now [City] have got over the hurdle of winning it. You could see in the home leg [last season], as soon as Vinicius Jr realised he wasn’t going to run Kyle Walker, it was deflation in the whole team. That doesn’t happen.

"There was the realisation that this is going to be a long day. As great as Carlo Ancelotti is and the players are and the club’s prestige in the competition, they’re not used to the way City make you play.

"You have to be super disciplined and the credit you have to give to Pep and the team is you have to be at your best to beat Man City, and even then you may not win. If you are making teams perform at their very best then you have a really good chance of going through and winning."

City return to European action on the back of a 3-1 comeback win in the Manchester derby, and face a potential title showdown at Liverpool on Sunday.

With the game at Anfield in mind, Lescott believes that Guardiola should look to rest some of his key players for the match against Copenhagen.

"I would take a different approach but I don’t think he will," he said. "You don’t get to the level that he’s got and maintained by doing that. He’s never suggested he’ll put out a so-called weakened team. I would probably look at [resting] Rodri and Kevin [De Bruyne].

"I’d be surprised if Kevin plays against Copenhagen because he looked a little bit tired yesterday in stages and Anfield will drain you, emotionally as well as physically, so the adrenaline will be so high and depending on how the game goes, you could be sapped before you know it in terms of your energy.

"So the opportunity to give Rodri and Kevin a real rest, I would do that if I was picking the team. But the likes of Kyle Walker, Phil Foden and [Erling] Haaland, you just play."

- - -

TNT Sports presents the premium live sports rights previously carried by BT Sport including the Premier League, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, UEFA Conference League, Gallagher Premiership Rugby, Investec Champions Cup, EPCR Challenge Cup, MotoGP, Cricket, UFC, Boxing and WWE. The streaming home for TNT Sports in the UK is discovery+, where fans can enjoy a subscription that includes TNT Sports, Eurosport and entertainment in one destination. You can also watch TNT Sports through BT, EE, Sky, and Virgin Media.