Advertisement
Pep: ready for tight run-in.

Both Man City and Liverpool will drop points in title race, insists Guardiola

Tottenham lost 2-0 to Chelsea to make their title ambitions look unlikely meanwhile.

PEP GUARDIOLA SAYS his Manchester City side beat West Ham to remain one point behind leaders Liverpool, though he expects both title-chasing sides to drop points during the run-in.

Sergio Aguero’s 59th-minute penalty at the Etihad Stadium earned City their fourth successive top-flight win on a night when Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool thrashed Watford 5-0 to stay at the summit.

City have now won eight of their previous nine Premier League games – only dropping points once in a loss to Newcastle United last month.

And while Liverpool sent an emphatic message by returning to winning ways in style, Guardiola insists both clubs will slip up across the final 10 games of the campaign.

“We knew it – Liverpool is a top side, we know that,” City manager Guardiola told a news conference.

“Now we have a gap with the first two with the third, we’re eight points [ahead of Tottenham], nine points for the leader.

“We knew it, 10 games… many things are going to happen.

“I think we are going to drop points, I think Liverpool are going to drop points. We’re going to see until the end.

“It’s important now to refresh, good recovery and prepare the game against Bournemouth.”

City can go back top of the table at the weekend as they face Bournemouth the day before Liverpool meet Everton in the Merseyside derby.

Guardiola’s quadruple-seeking side then meet Watford the following week, with the second leg of their Champions League last-16 tie against Schalke and the FA Cup quarter-final at Swansea then on the schedule prior to the international break.

“Hopefully we can make a good performance against Bournemouth and after we have one week to prepare [for Watford], the last game in the Premier League before 21 days without Premier League again and focus on Schalke and Swansea,” Guardiola added.

“That’s why it’s a real final for us against Bournemouth.”

Author
View comments
Close
Comments
This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic. Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy here before taking part.
Leave a Comment
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Fred McHugh
    Favourite Fred McHugh
    Report
    Feb 27th 2019, 11:01 AM

    ENGLISH premier league- just in location

    63
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Mike Flannery
    Favourite Mike Flannery
    Report
    Feb 27th 2019, 11:06 AM

    Lower quality but more interesting football back then

    48
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Bungee Aky
    Favourite Bungee Aky
    Report
    Feb 27th 2019, 11:25 AM

    Brexit might bring back that reality sooner than people think

    33
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute John Mc Dermott
    Favourite John Mc Dermott
    Report
    Feb 27th 2019, 11:42 AM

    Is it any wonder it’s never happened again… Villa lost 4-1 to Coventry!

    27
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Brian Murphy
    Favourite Brian Murphy
    Report
    Feb 27th 2019, 11:26 AM

    Ironic it was a foreginer who scored the winning goals tho…

    12
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Damo.f
    Favourite Damo.f
    Report
    Feb 27th 2019, 2:41 PM

    Bernard Brogans long lost relative.

    9
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Tricksy
    Favourite Tricksy
    Report
    Feb 27th 2019, 2:19 PM

    And not many English managers either !

    5
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Frank MacNamara
    Favourite Frank MacNamara
    Report
    Feb 27th 2019, 2:41 PM

    I wonder what Premier team had the most Irish players in it?I remember Charlton Athletic had Matt Holland,Mark Kinsella&Dean Kiely at the same time.That would be hard to beat,I reckon.

    2
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Frank O'Mahony
    Favourite Frank O'Mahony
    Report
    Feb 27th 2019, 2:58 PM

    @Frank MacNamara: Villa with Stan (the gaffer), McGrath, Townsend and Houghton maybe

    14
Submit a report
Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
Thank you for the feedback
Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.

Leave a commentcancel