Pep Guardiola insists title race is ‘NOT over’ despite Man City’s 4-1 win over Arsenal as the manager urges his players to ‘take nothing for granted’ ahead of Sunday’s clash with Fulham
- Manchester City came within two points of Arsenal on Wednesday by beating them 4-1
- The champions have two games left and need one win or two draws to come out on top
- Despite this, City manager Pep Guardiola has insisted the title race is ‘not over’
Pep Guardiola has warned his Manchester City stars not to let history repeat itself at Fulham on Sunday
City took control of the Premier League title race midway through the week with a win over Arsenal and completed a double over the Gunners this season.
But the defending champions followed up a win at the Emirates in February by only drawing at Nottingham Forest and Guardiola insisted they can afford another misstep.
“What we have to do is play our game,” Guardiola said. “I know what happened in the Emirates: we won, everyone is happy. “Ah, Man City already caught Arsenal”, but then we went to Forest and we drew. A fantastic game, but we drew.
Now we have to go to Fulham, a special stadium, an incredibly well organized team. When we do our job, we are closer. Nothing is taken for granted.
Pep Guardiola has insisted title race is ‘neither over’ despite his side’s 4-1 win over Arsenal
The win brought Man City within two points of the league leaders with two games in hand
“We were happy and satisfied before the last game, but that’s all.
“I know it’s not 20 games anymore, it’s seven games, but seven games is still seven games – it’s a lot, as the Champions League is just around the corner.”
City have won seven league games in a row since drawing 1-1 at the City Ground, a game marked by a large number of missed opportunities. Guardiola suggested that he should not rotate his team too much.
“At Vorst we had some margin, now we have no margin,” he said. “People say it feels like it’s over. It is not over yet. It’ll be over when it’s over.
‘Impossible? No, it may be possible. You can redeem points within a week. It’s the next game, the next game – I won’t pay attention to anything else.
“If you are 10 or 15 points away, maybe you can prioritize the Champions League, but now we don’t have time to prioritize anything.
Arsenal have relinquished an eight-point lead at the top by going scoreless in their last four games
“The Premier League is so beautiful, so attractive. Becoming champion again is a level comparable to winning the Champions League. People ask: why? Because it’s against everyone every week for 10 months.
“It has been flat in periods [this season]. It’s like a routine, “ah, one more game, one more game,” like in September when you have a lot of time [left]. When this happens, it’s the worst.
“If you have a live team, so hungry and upset after losing, then it’s good – it’s alive. If you win, “ah another win, it doesn’t matter…” That’s why I say that at the end of the season, when it’s almost there, people aren’t tired anymore. You see the holidays or fight for the titles. When that happens, it’s really good.’