‘It’s a FINAL’: Pep Guardiola admits Premier League title race will be ‘almost over’ if Man City lose to Arsenal later this month after cutting the gap to three points with a win over Leicester
Pep Guardiola labeled Manchester City’s clash with Arsenal in just over a week as a ‘final’ in this season’s thrilling battle for the Premier League crown.
Erling Haaland equaled Mohamed Salah’s season record of 38 goals by scoring twice in the win over Leicester City to take his tally to 32 with eight games remaining.
The biggest of these is when Arsenal arrive at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday for a week, a night that could have serious implications for where the title ends.
“It’s a final to play more finals because if you lose this game it’s almost over,” Guardiola said. “Hopefully we can arrive with the chance to be there.
“It’s winning, winning and winning. They’ve done an incredible run and I don’t think they’ll drop many points, so it’s important to be there.’
Pep Guardiola labeled the duel between Manchester City and Arsenal a ‘final’ in just over a week
Arsenal face City this month in what could have serious implications for where the title ends
Haaland was rested at half-time and lost the chance to score a seventh hat-trick of an underwhelming England debut season.
The 22-year-old was seen laughing and joking with his teammates on the bench as City recorded their 10th consecutive win in all competitions.
“I want, I wish he can break all the records – that means he scores a lot of goals,” Guardiola added. “That helps, but I think what he wants is to win the title and be there. We have eight more games to play and he is almost all done.
You can see his body language during the game. John [Stones] and he comes from [previous] injuries and he plays 90 minutes against Bayern Munich and we have to be careful because his injuries were long, so after 45 minutes it was good for him to rest.
Guardiola also praised his players’ mentality, suggesting they could have already had one eye on Wednesday’s Champions League quarter-final second leg at Bayern.
“There’s always the tendency to think about this match,” he said. “But we started really well. I thought days ago to make ore rotation, but if you rotate a lot of the team, the team drops a lot.
“Everyone saw that we struggled a lot after we conceded. If there are a lot of points, you drop a bit.’
Arsenal currently top the Premier League table, but City are now just three points behind