PEP KEEPS CLOSE LAMPS VOICES CON
Guardiola up for title fight
PEP GUARDIOLA insists he’s not losing sleep over Manchester United’s emergence as a Premier League force. But as he heads to Chelsea today hoping to close the gap on City’s cross-town rivals, Guardiola admits it might finally be “game on” with the two Manchester giants ready to battle Liverpool for the Premier League title.
City follow their trip to
Chelsea with the short drive to Old Trafford onwednesday for a one-off Carabao Cup semi-final tie against
United.
But it’s the prospect of a title battle with Ole
Gunnar Solskjaer’s
United – now firmly in the race – that is finally set to capture Guardiola’s imagination, with the Spaniard admitting it’s been a long time coming.
“I am pretty sure Ole is happier than me – but I am not concerned too much about United,” says Guardiola, whose City side have two games in hand on Liverpool and United.
“If they are there it is because they deserve it. Since I arrived at City I expected United to be there all the time.
“Sometimes in the last couple of seasons it could not always be possible, especially in the Premier League.
“But now they are there and if you want to learn about this league, my advice to my players is don’t think much about the next four, five, six fixtures and think about what happens if you win this amount of games.
“So the best advice I can give is just focus on the next one and then the next after that.
“Before I landed here people said that the real
Premier League is where everyone can lose to everyone. I didn’t see it until now.
“Now is the first time I see that one team is able to lose or win by seven then after that draw.the results are unpredictable.”
First, though, City – missing five players due to a Covid outbreak at their training ground – must inflict more misery on a stuttering Chelsea side with just one win in their last five League games.
Chelsea were big summer spenders but have struggled to find consistency in recent weeks, although victory over City today would spring them into the top four.