Watch Mikel Arteta’s Dressing room reaction after Liverpool humble Arsenal out of FA Cup
Liverpool and Man City are expected to battle for the Premier League title this season. Arsenal and Aston Villa may be involved and Pep Guardiola has had his say.
Man City manager Pep Guardiola.
Man City manager Pep Guardiola.
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has outlined his thoughts on the Premier League title race after his side beat Huddersfield Town in the FA Cup. Liverpool knocked Arsenal, another contender for the league, out of the competition later on Sunday.
But Guardiola knows that with Liverpool currently leading the standings, there is little margin for error for his team. Manchester City is five points behind the Reds at the moment but has a game in hand against Brentford still to be played.
Aston Villa is sitting second with 42 points from 20 games (compared to Liverpool’s 45), with Manchester City having 40 points from 19 matches. Arsenal has the same number of points as Guardiola’s outfit but from a game more, having lost consecutive fixtures against West Ham United and then Fulham.
“In the Premier League, we have one game in hand,” Guardiola said during his post-Huddersfield press conference (via Manchester World). “We have a big rival; Liverpool is back… Arsenal, many good teams are there, Tottenham, it’s important to be there. But in the same time, we know we can’t drop points much or it will be difficult.”
Manchester City does tend to improve in the second half of seasons and has recently welcomed Kevin De Bruyne back from injury. But Guardiola’s side needs to find more consistency having dropped points against the likes of Spurs and Crystal Palace.
“Now we have a difficult game in Newcastle and then we have two weeks to refresh our minds and go to Abu Dhabi to train in better conditions,” Guardiola continued. “In the second part, what I want is everyone to arrive fit.
“I want Kevin [De Bruyne] back, Erling [Haaland] back, Jérémy [Doku] back and Jack [Grealish]. When we have everyone back we have a team that can compete in different competitions until the end.”
Liverpool.com says: Guardiola is right that his side needs to go on a winning run but with De Bruyne back and Haaland not really having been missed during his absence, it is absolutely possible that could be the case. Liverpool just needs to focus on its own fixtures and not get too distracted.
The title race is likely to go down to the wire and there is no reason that either team can’t be involved. Manchester City needs to find consistency but Liverpool does too, with the dropped points against Luton perhaps the most frustrating.
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