Ruben Dias exclusive: Manchester City defender urges Pep Guardiola’s team to find ‘different ways’ to beat Arsenal to Premier League title

Thanks to a run of four successive Premier League victories, City have charged back into title contention to ultimately put their fate back into their own hands – five points behind leaders Arsenal with a game in hand with the two sides due to meet at the Etihad Stadium in April.

City prevailed over Arsenal when the two sides played out tightly-contested Premier League title races in the 2022/23 and 2023/24 campaigns.

Dias thinks that experience counts for little in the ever-changing climate of the English top-flight. Nevertheless, he and his squad are “very excited” to be in the mix.

“Every year there’s a new challenge, there’s a new opponent. Even if it’s the same opponent, different ways to go past it. As such, every one is a new one, so we’re focused on Nottingham Forest.”

‘You have to adapt’ – Guardiola on Premier League’s set-piece trend

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City are synonymous with late-season runs which often end with silverware. Having lost just once in the Premier League since November, Pep Guardiola’s side have sustained the pressure on leaders Arsenal and strengthened their charge with the January signings of Antoine Semenyo and Marc Guehi.

With Gianluigi Donnarumma replacing City’s long-standing No. 1 Ederson in the summer too, Dias said his relationship with those around him in defence is strengthening by the day.

“Obviously every day is a new day,” Dias said. “Every day you get better. You get closer, you understand each other better.

“But without a doubt, the impact is there to be seen. This is what we want, people to come, and grow from that. And others have had a great impact, obviously Gigio has been here a bit longer. But obviously, and definitely, it’s a great help for what our ambition is.”

City are looking to return to the pinnacle having missed out on a major trophy last season for the first time in eight years, with their only silverware coming in the form of the Community Shield.

Now back in contention for the major honours, Dias said it was a campaign his side needed to learn from.

Ruben Dias of Manchester City celebrates victory with Manchester City goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma during the Premier League match between Leeds United and Manchester City

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“Difficult season, for sure,” he said. “Mostly because we were not excellent and normally excellent is all we do around here.

“But definitely one that we could learn a lot, improve a lot. Also it’s very well known it was a strong period of transition.

“We still managed to get to the final of the FA Cup, we did a brilliant push at the end of the season for those Champions League spots, which was very important for us and the club.”

Last summer brought the departures of influential City squad members Kevin De Bruyne and Ederson.

But Dias, who is part of City’s leadership group, said on a personal level, his focus has never been deterred by key players leaving the club.

“Every new season there’s adaptations,” he said. “Before Kevin and Edi [Ederson] it was Dinho [Fernandinho], it was Gundo [Ilkay Gundogan], it was then Kyle [Walker].

“Every time it keeps on changing, you just need to adapt, it’s part of the day to day and it is what it is. I feel like I’m the same person now, trying to push for better, trying to push for what I think is right, and that goes [with] my leadership as well.

‘It is not his knee’ – Guardiola tight-lipped on Haaland injury

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“I feel like I’m improving always but I’m still the same person since I came in the club, doing the best I possibly can do. Adaptation every season, yes, to whatever happens. But deep down the feeling is the same, always.”

Dias is ready to take on the critical stage of City’s season, having recovered from a hamstring injury which kept him out of action for a little under a month.

“I feel like it’s been very positive,” he said. “Every time you have a step back in your season, the train keeps going, you stepped off the train, and then you need to catch the train again.

“I felt like I was able to do it from a very strong position, even the fact that we qualified for the Champions League in the group stage without the play-offs was very good.

“It gave us these two weeks in which I was already good, I had the time and space to train and build up, almost like a pre-season with the team. The timing of it was as good as it could be.”

Dias on Premier League set-piece trend: ‘You just adapt’

Outcomes are being determined from dead-ball situations more than ever in England’s top-flight, but Dias feels players need to get on with the task in hand, rather than ponder the evolving goalscoring landscape.

“I mean, the game is always changing,” he said. “From set-pieces to defensively, attacking whatever. You just adapt to whatever is coming at you. Especially in the position in which you want to win, win win and win. You just adapt and don’t talk much about it.”

City have not been among the top beneficiaries from such scenarios and scoring goals is something Dias “wants to improve” as he sits one goal away from his season-best tally of three.

But as is always the case, the team comes first.

“I love a trophy,” he said. “Without a doubt, it [goalscoring] is something I look at, something I want to improve, it’s something I want to be a part of. “

“But mostly I want my team to win. If I can add up to it, beautiful, if I don’t, and we still do what we must do then I’m happy.”