‘It’s a FINAL’: Pep Guardiola admits the Premier League title race ‘will be almost over’ if Man City lose their showdown with Arsenal later this month after cutting the gap back to three points with a win over Leicester
Pep Guardiola branded Manchester City’s clash with Arsenal in a little over a week as a ‘final’ in the tense fight for this season’s Premier League crown.
Erling Haaland equalled Mohamed Salah’s 38-game season goalscoring record by netting twice during the victory over Leicester City, taking his total to 32 with eight games left.
The biggest of those is when Arsenal arrive at the Etihad Stadium a week on Wednesday, a night that could have serious implications on where the title ends up.
‘It is a final to play more finals because if you lose this game, it will be almost over,’ Guardiola said. ‘Hopefully we can arrive having the chance to be there.
‘It is win, win and win. They have done an incredible run and I don’t think they are going to drop many points so it is important to be in there.’
Pep Guardiola branded Manchester City’s clash with Arsenal in a little over a week as a ‘final’
Arsenal face City this month in what could have serious implications on where the title ends up
Haaland was afforded a rest at half-time and lost the chance to score a seventh hat-trick of a barnstorming debut campaign in England.
The 22-year-old was seen laughing and joking with his team-mates on the bench as City saw out a 10th consecutive victory in all competitions.
‘I want, I desire that he can break all the records – that means he’s scoring a lot of goals,’ Guardiola added. ‘That helps but I think what he wants is to win the title and be there. Still we have to play eight games and he is close to playing all of them.
‘You see his body language during the game. John [Stones] and him come from [previous] injuries and he plays 90 minutes against Bayern Munich and we have to take care because his injuries were long so after 45 minutes it was good for him to rest.’
Guardiola also praised the mindset of his players and suggested they could already have had one eye on the Champions League quarter-final second leg at Bayern on Wednesday.
‘There is always a tendency to think about this competition,’ he said. ‘But we started really well. I thought days ago to make ore rotation but when you rotate a lot of them team the team drop a lot.
‘Everyone saw that after we conceded we struggle a lot. When there are a lot of subs, you drop a bit.’
Arsenal are currently top of the Premier League table but City are now just three points behind
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