Pep Guardiola made a subtle Arsenal jibe when speaking in the wake of Manchester City’s victory over Crystal Palace. Kevin De Bruyne inspired Guardiola’s men to a 4-2 victory over Palace at Selhurst Park, to see City return to the Premier League summit….CONTINUE READING
However, both Arsenal and Liverpool can overtake the reigning champions before the close of the weekend should they win their games against Brighton and Manchester United respectively.
With fewer than ten games remaining before the season’s end, only two points are separating the top three sides.
Indeed, Guardiola admitted that he had never encountered a three-way title race before in his career before making a subtle jibe at Arsenal for encroaching upon Liverpool and City’s recent dominance.
Asked by Joe Cole if it was one of the tightest title races in his managerial career, Guardiola told TNT Sports: “Good question.
“In Barcelona, it was always Barcelona and Madrid. With Bayern Munich it was Dortmund, so yeah maybe it is the first time with three… ‘What is Arsenal doing here?’ No, [they’re] welcome.
“So, yeah, it’s three top teams, I would say, so at the end, we arrive at the end with a small margin of difference and we know exactly what we have to do.”
Asked if City needed to win all their games to win the title, Guardiola emphatically said: “Yeah.”
In his pre-match press conference, Guardiola spoke of the difficulties of balancing a title charge with a Champions League quarter-final encounter against Real Madrid.
He said: “It’s always been like that. When we won the treble last season, we arrived in the semi-finals of the Champions League and won the Premier League.
“Honestly, if we were 18 points in front of second in the Premier League, I would have two eyes on Madrid. But that’s not the case. We’re third, not far away from the top of the Premier League, but if we drop points it will be almost impossible.
“So we have to win the game against Palace and after that, we will have more time, not for recovery, but to prepare. When we have been fighting for nine or 10 months for the Premier League, why should I be distracted now from this important game against Palace, when the distance is so close?”
