Manchester City manager, Josep “Pep” Guardiola Sala, has admitted to feeling uneasy as the EPL title race heats up, with his side sitting third in the table, level on point with Liverpool who have a game in hand. City are just a point behind table-toppers Arsenal.
Three teams are in the hunt for the 2023/24 EPL title–Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester City.
Champions, Manchester City, who swept everyone aside last season, are facing a tough battle this season to retain their title, and have been playing catch-up this season.
After the 4-1 victory against Aston Villa on Wednesday night, Pep Guardiola admitted to the fact that the EPL title race this season is a tough one, saying that his side are only third favourites for the title this season.
According to him, he is not feeling easy about it but insists his side will be in the hunt for a fourth successive EPL title, although he expects it to go down to the wire if they win all their remaining games.
“If we win all our games it will go until the last day because they are not five, six, seven points in front,” Pep Guardiola said in reaction to the EPL title race this season.
“It will not be easy,” he added. “The feeling I have is not easy. I see Liverpool and Arsenal playing, they don’t drop points, it will not be easy.”
To ensure they go all the way, Guardiola said that they need to focus on their job and not look at what the other teams in the title race are doing.
“But we have to do our job and don’t regret, ‘Oh, we should have won that game because they lost after’. We cannot do anything, we do not play against them any more so we don’t control what Liverpool and Arsenal do. All we can do is win our games,” the City manager said.
Manchester City were dominant, as usual, on Wednesday night, against Aston Villa, winning 4-1, even though Kevin De Bruyne and Erling Haaland got benched.
The dominant performance against Aston Villa had people asking if the club are finally hitting form, given the criticisms the club faced after that goalless draw with Arsenal on Sunday.
In reaction to those questions, Pep Guardiola said; “We were out of the title race three or four days ago and not playing good, the team was not playing like we did the last six seasons. Now we are in the best form in the league? Come on, guys…”
According to him, it was just quality defending from the Gunners and his boys’ inability to take their chances, that worked against them in the game against Arsenal, but every other thing was taken care of.
“We’ve won a lot of the last games. I cannot say in the game against Arsenal I didn’t recognise my team. We were there all the time, we didn’t create chances because of the quality of defence and because we missed some presence in the box, but the rest, I recognise completely my team.”
The former Barcelona and Bayern Munich manager said he and his charges are calm and will remain so and hope others lose points as the EPL title race heats up, and going right down to the wire this season.
“That’s why we are calm. As I said, it’s tight, it’s not seven or eight points. It’s close. We have to wait. They have to lose points, otherwise, it will not be possible, but again the team has been exceptional this season, exceptional,” Pep Guardiola said.
Liverpool could open a three-point gap between them and Manchester City if they win their game against Sheffield United on Thursday night.