Pep Guardiola did not expect Manchester City to be heading into the New Year with a commanding lead in the Premier League title race after trailing Chelsea for much of the season. A 1-0 win over Brentford secured a tenth successive league victory for the Blues to extend their lead over the Champions League winners, with Liverpool a further point behind but with a game in hand.
Pep Guardiola said: “It’s an unexpected situation. I didn’t expect a month ago when we were four or five or six points behind Chelsea and Liverpool to be in this position, but we have 54 points more to play for. The best example we spoke many times about. When everything is taken for granted, you can be 4-0 up and in 20 minutes it is 4-3. If we hadn’t scored the fifth goal [against Leicester] I can assure you that this game could not be won, and we would have drawn or lost against Leicester. That is why we have to be patient, recover people, what’s next, how they play, which ones are going to play and after another one, and after, another one. The run is going to finish sooner or later, we are going to lose a game, because it’s going to happen, so be calm, relax and try again, and next one, and try again.”
City can turn the screw even more as they take on Arsenal in a lunchtime kick-off on New Year’s Day before their rivals are in action, although it does mean a quick turnaround for the players.
Pep Guardiola said: “The most important thing is the desire and the commitment. The team has to say: yeah, I want to do it, I want to go there, and try to go again and try to win the game. They compete against each other. We have five or six incredible strikers and we can just play three. And everyone was involved. Raheem [Sterling] and Riyad [Mahrez] were the best players against Leicester and [against Brentford] they didn’t play one minute. But in this kind of period everyone will be involved. And everyone makes their incredible contribution and that is why we are where we are.”
