There's been claims Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta will park the bus at the Etihad.
Guardiola said, “For 95 minutes, the opponent has to defend in their box. This is what I want. Do you know why? Because the ball is far, far, far away from our keeper.
“When the ball is closer to my goal, now I am trembling. So I prefer for the ball to be up there (far away from goal). For me, that is being pragmatic.
“Pragmatic? We are the best team in the world being pragmatic. Look at the results. People say we have a lot of passes, good build-up.
“We won a lot. So what does pragmatic mean? It’s related to results, right? Not how beautiful the football is. We believe that in the way we play means we are unbelievably pragmatic. The best, I would say. I’m sorry, that’s the truth.
“If you play s**t then 0-0 is a good result. When the opponent is better then it’s good.”
He added: “Mikel knows I’m not going to play for zero-zero and I know that he’s not going to play for zero-zero. But sometimes they defend deep because you are better and sometimes they create a lot of chances because they are better. You accept it. It’s a good way for a team and a club to grow.
“Sometimes it’s sun, sometimes it’s rain. But I have said many times that I would (accept) being sat back for a long, long, long time and after that make just one transition to score a goal.
“I swear to God, I would do it. I would do it because I want to win desperately. So I can talk about being pragmatic. There's no manager better at being pragmatic than me, I'm sorry. We won more in being that way, so why should I change? It's difficult for me to change because the results are there.”