Rico Lewis sends message to Arsenal after Man City drop points at Newcastle

Rico Lewis has dismissed any sense of panic at Manchester City following a week in which the team dropped four points. He described the past seven days as “tough” and “ridiculous”, referencing the late draw against Arsenal and the squandered lead at St James’ Park.

Despite Kyle Walker’s visible frustration and Jack Grealish’s interaction with an elderly Newcastle fan, Lewis believes the two points secured against formidable opponents will prove valuable by season’s end.

As City prepare for their Champions League match in Bratislava on Tuesday, Pep Guardiola is seeking a solution to Rodri’s injury absence, stating: “We will find a solution.”

With Kevin De Bruyne also injured, Lewis and Mateo Kovacic are expected to step up despite lacking Rodri’s stature and power. Ilkay Gundogan is still adjusting after his late return in the summer.

Reflecting on the challenging week, Lewis said: “It’s been a tough week with tough games. When you look in the grand scheme of things, maybe we’ll be happy in the future with how we did this week.

“We want to win every game… we have to take the negatives and positives, improve on what we can do better and also continue to do what we were doing well.

“We’re disappointed with dropping two points but we have to take the positives from it. It’s difficult. Everyone knows how tough and ridiculous the schedule is but we can’t just not play, we have to get on with it.

“That’s why we’ve got so many top quality players in the squad. We need everyone and we never know when we will end them.

“If you look into the details of the games, we’d probably take a point against Arsenal. It was a tough game. Here, we want to win but it’s a tough place to come and not many people will come here and win easily. It’s difficult to say but that is football.”

Lewis, at only 19, is mature enough to field questions about how much City missed injured Rodri, as he looks forward to the opportunity it gives him in midfield.

He added: “It will take time. If anyone is injured, it’s the same. We know how important Rodri is but the situation is over now, we can’t do anything about it and we’ve got to crack on and sort it out ourselves. That’ll come with time.”

Josko Gvardiol’s opener was cancelled out at Newcastle by Anthony Gordon’s penalty and both sides had good chances to win it.

Lewis has started at right-back but sees himself as a midfielder, and praise from Guardiola is an incentive to get even better.

He said: “It’s really nice but with that also I need to prove him right and when he compliments me I need to do just as well in the next game. It’s encouragement to carry on doing well.

“I don’t really have a ‘best’ position right now. There’s a long way in my career to go. I like playing in the pockets, I like playing as a midfielder on the ball but I also like playing full-back.

“It’s not always a bad thing to have options but maybe in the future I’ll have more of a clear position.”