MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Manchester City avoided Champions League humiliation. Now back to the job of salvaging the Premier League season.
Manager Pep Guardiola admitted this week he could not imagine City going on to be crowned champion of Europe for the second time in three years with a playoff against Real Madrid or Bayern Munich awaiting.
The situation in the Premier League is even more precarious. Forget about that title, he said.
But even though Guardiola believes the 12-point gap to leader Liverpool is too much to make up, chasing down second-placed Arsenal is a far more realistic prospect.
City and the Gunners meet at Emirates Stadium on Sunday with Arsenal desperately trying to stay within reach of Liverpool and City on the rise again after an alarming midseason collapse.
Victory against Arsenal would move City to within three points of Mikel Arteta’s title hopeful and put second place in reach.
Guardiola has been unusually active during the January window in a bid to turn around a season that was lurching towards crisis at the end of last year.
Around $150 million has been spent on Egypt forward Omar Marmoush and defenders Abdukodir Khusanov and Vitor Reis. All three will be available for the next stage of the Champions League and will also bolster City's depleted squad in the domestic season.
“In two weeks we will be better than we are now because players will be back and we will have the new signings,” Guardiola said of his team's chances going forward.
Marmoush adds depth to City's attack which has been over reliant on Erling Haaland. Center backs Khusanov and Reis strengthen an area that has been badly affected by injuries.
City's results are improving and the goals are flowing.
Beating Chelsea last week made it six games without a loss in the Premier League, and 30 goals in its last eight games in all competitions. While the defense still looks fragile, the firepower is leading City's recovery.
Six goals in seven games suggests Phil Foden is finding his feet again and there have been positive signs from Jack Grealish, too.
One more name is expected to leave the long injury list: Oscar Bobb is nearing a return after five months out.
City has mounted long unbeaten runs regularly from this time of the year, including a 35-game streak last term.
Arsenal was City’s closest rival over the past two years — twice missing out on the title — and is leading the challenge to a Liverpool team that continues to keep all-comers at arm's length.
Arsenal was expected to learn from the experience of twice running City close, but instead it looks to be feeling the effects of ending up emptyhanded.
Inconsistency has been the issue, and points have been dropped in unexpected fashion such as in the recent 2-2 draw with Aston Villa after leading 2-0. Two draws against Brighton have been costly, along with dropped points against Everton and Bournemouth.
Arteta's team looks in need of a deadly forward, with Villa's Ollie Watkins a reported target.
Arsenal is six points behind Liverpool, having played a game more, and can ill-afford many more slip-ups, if any.
James Robson is at https://twitter.com/jamesalanrobson
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Arsenal's manager Mikel Arteta waits for the start of the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Girona and Arsenal at the Estadi Montilivi in Girona, Spain, Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Joan Monfort)
Manchester City's head coach Pep Guardiola arrives to take his seat for the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Manchester City and Club Brugge at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester, Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)
Manchester City's head coach Pep Guardiola celebrates with Bernardo Silva afte the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Manchester City and Club Brugge at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester, Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump said Iran wants to negotiate with Washington after his threat to strike the Islamic Republic over its bloody crackdown on protesters, a move coming as activists said Monday the death toll in the nationwide demonstrations rose to at least 544.
Iran had no immediate reaction to the news, which came after the foreign minister of Oman — long an interlocutor between Washington and Tehran — traveled to Iran this weekend. It also remains unclear just what Iran could promise, particularly as Trump has set strict demands over its nuclear program and its ballistic missile arsenal, which Tehran insists is crucial for its national defense.
Meanwhile Monday, Iran called for pro-government demonstrators to head to the streets in support of the theocracy, a show of force after days of protests directly challenging the rule of 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iranian state television aired chants from the crowd, who shouted “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!”
Trump and his national security team have been weighing a range of potential responses against Iran including cyberattacks and direct strikes by the U.S. or Israel, according to two people familiar with internal White House discussions who were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
“The military is looking at it, and we’re looking at some very strong options,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Sunday night. Asked about Iran’s threats of retaliation, he said: “If they do that, we will hit them at levels that they’ve never been hit before.”
Trump said that his administration was in talks to set up a meeting with Tehran, but cautioned that he may have to act first as reports of the death toll in Iran mount and the government continues to arrest protesters.
“I think they’re tired of being beat up by the United States,” Trump said. “Iran wants to negotiate.”
He added: “The meeting is being set up, but we may have to act because of what’s happening before the meeting. But a meeting is being set up. Iran called, they want to negotiate.”
Iran through country's parliamentary speaker warned Sunday that the U.S. military and Israel would be “legitimate targets” if America uses force to protect demonstrators.
More than 10,600 people also have been detained over the two weeks of protests, said the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which has been accurate in previous unrest in recent years and gave the death toll. It relies on supporters in Iran crosschecking information. It said 496 of the dead were protesters and 48 were with security forces.
With the internet down in Iran and phone lines cut off, gauging the demonstrations from abroad has grown more difficult. The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the toll. Iran’s government has not offered overall casualty figures.
Those abroad fear the information blackout is emboldening hard-liners within Iran’s security services to launch a bloody crackdown. Protesters flooded the streets in the country’s capital and its second-largest city on Saturday night into Sunday morning. Online videos purported to show more demonstrations Sunday night into Monday, with a Tehran official acknowledging them in state media.
In Tehran, a witness told the AP that the streets of the capital empty at the sunset call to prayers each night. By the Isha, or nighttime prayer, the streets are deserted.
Part of that stems from the fear of getting caught in the crackdown. Police sent the public a text message that warned: “Given the presence of terrorist groups and armed individuals in some gatherings last night and their plans to cause death, and the firm decision to not tolerate any appeasement and to deal decisively with the rioters, families are strongly advised to take care of their youth and teenagers.”
Another text, which claimed to come from the intelligence arm of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, also directly warned people not to take part in demonstrations.
“Dear parents, in view of the enemy’s plan to increase the level of naked violence and the decision to kill people, ... refrain from being on the streets and gathering in places involved in violence, and inform your children about the consequences of cooperating with terrorist mercenaries, which is an example of treason against the country,” the text warned.
The witness spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity due to the ongoing crackdown.
The demonstrations began Dec. 28 over the collapse of the Iranian rial currency, which trades at over 1.4 million to $1, as the country’s economy is squeezed by international sanctions in part levied over its nuclear program. The protests intensified and grew into calls directly challenging Iran’s theocracy.
Nikhinson reported from aboard Air Force One.
In this frame grab from video obtained by the AP outside Iran, a masked demonstrator holds a picture of Iran's Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi during a protest in Tehran, Iran, Friday, January. 9, 2026. (UGC via AP)
In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran shows protesters taking to the streets despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026.(UGC via AP)
In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran showed protesters once again taking to the streets of Tehran despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Saturday Jan. 10, 2026. (UGC via AP)
