Title race is ‘not over’, warns Man City boss Guardiola

Pep Guardiola has warned his Manchester City players that the Premier League title race is not over despite the champions’ crucial win against leaders Arsenal.
Guardiola’s side crushed Arsenal 4-1 at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday to move within two points of the Gunners with two games in hand. Second placed City will knock Arsenal out of pole position if they win at Fulham tomorrow.
But despite City’s firm grip on the destiny of the title, Guardiola has no intention of letting his stars rest on their laurels. “People start to say they have the feeling it’s over, but it’s not over. It will be over when it’s over, and it’s not over,” Guardiola told reporters. “We still have seven games. Every single game we play for special things, for our opponents and ourselves. We have to do our game.”
City must win six of their last seven league games to be sure of a fifth title in six seasons, leaving them with little margin for error. They had to wait until the final minutes of the season before clinching the title last term with a dramatic fightback against Aston Villa and Guardiola is taking nothing for granted.
After travelling to Fulham, Guardiola’s men host West Ham and Leeds during a hectic period that includes the Champions League semi-final against Real Madrid, as well as a trip to Everton, who are fighting to avoid relegation.
“There are still seven games. For example, I saw 15-20 minutes of Everton against Newcastle at Goodison Park on Thursday and saw how aggressive they are,” Guardiola said.
“I know at the Emirates we won, everyone was happy. Then we go to Forest and we draw. Now we won and we go to Fulham, a special stadium, organised team. If we do our job, we’ll be closer. Nothing is being taken for granted.”
Arsenal have gone four games without a win as they crack under the pressure of the title race, while battle-hardened City have reeled off seven successive victories. Trying to play down the significance of the seismic win against Arsenal, Guardiola added: “It’s been normal as usual, nothing special. We make a recovery training session. Today is a day off, so nothing special.”
After trailing Arsenal for much of the season, treble-chasing City have hit form at the perfect time, finally shaking off the hangover from winning last year’s title. “In periods it has been flat. ‘Ah, another game’ in September time. When this happens it is the worst,” Guardiola said. “When you have a team hungry after losing, is alive, it’s better. ‘Another win, doesn’t matter’.”

Klopp warns Liverpool revival far from complete
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp said his side are not yet “out of the woods” as they try to finish a see-saw season by qualifying for the Champions League. Wednesday’s 2-1 win away to West Ham was Liverpool’s third successive win, extending their unbeaten run in the Premier League to five matches.
Liverpool continue their quest for a top-four finish at home to Tottenham tomorrow, where a win for Klopp’s men would also derail Spurs’ bid for a place in next season’s Champions League. But Klopp said the team that were beaten in last season’s European showpiece final by Real Madrid is far from back in a truly consistent groove.
“It is, for me, too early to speak about consistency,” he said. “Winning three games is not for me consistent, it is good but can only be the start of something.”
The German added: “It is about consistency you show in performances even more than results. For the outside world it is the result but for us it must be performances because that is what we work with. I am happy with that in the moment because in all the games, as different as they were, I saw a lot of things we want to see in the games and that is then really good. I am absolutely OK with the moment but it is not that I already trust ourselves that much to say ‘That’s it now, we are out of the woods’ because this season gave us a few lessons I didn’t want to learn, but learned.”
Klopp said he wanted his side to be “super-aggressive and super-greedy” and show “that the most important prize in football is the three points and that’s all we have to be focused on.”

Fixtures
(1400 GMT unless stated)
Today: Crystal Palace v West Ham (1130 GMT), Brentford v Nottingham Forest, Brighton v Wolves
Tomorrow (1300 GMT unless stated): Bournemouth v Leeds, Fulham v Manchester City, Liverpool v Tottenham (1530 GMT), Manchester United v Aston Villa, Newcastle v Southampton
Monday: Leicester v Everton (1900 GMT)
Tuesday: Arsenal v Chelsea (1900 GMT)