Swansea's Federico Fernandez says Pep Guardiola will have it tough at Man City

Swansea defender Federico Fernandez says the recommendation of his Argentina team-mate Lionel Messi will count for nothing when Pep Guardiola takes over at Manchester City.

Fernandez comes up against City on the final day of the Premier League season, live on Sky Sports, aiming to put a real dampener on Guardiola's arrival in Manchester this summer.

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City need a point at the Liberty Stadium to secure fourth spot and the Champions League place that comes with it, with defeat in Manuel Pellegrini's farewell fixture leaving them at risk of being usurped by Manchester United.

Whatever happens on Sunday, though, Fernandez feels Guardiola has accepted the toughest challenge of a career which has so far only known success at Barcelona and Bayern Munich.

"All the players I know who have worked with him have always said what a good coach he is," said Fernandez.

"He has been successful wherever he has been, and Lionel spoke highly of what he did in Barcelona.

"But the Premier League is different. This is a more competitive league, a tougher competition. Each team is capable of beating the others every week as we have seen this season.

"Manchester City have top players but you only have to look at Chelsea this year to see how tough it is. They have top players and were champions, but this year they are only just around the top 10.

"So I think Guardiola has a tough job ahead at Manchester City."

Swansea are without key players on Sunday who are rested ahead of Euro 2016 next month, including skipper Ashley Williams and joint-top scorer Gylfi Sigurdsson.

But they have won six of their last 10 games, and manager Francesco Guidolin signed a new two-year contract in midweek.

"He came in when the situation was not good and very stressful, and I am happy for him and his staff," Fernandez said about Guidolin.

"He now gets a clean slate and a different chance to show how good he is."