‘It is win, win and win’: Guardiola challenges City before title run-in
Pep Guardiola said Manchester City’s 3-1 win over Leicester was absolutely vital in the pursuit of Arsenal, with the champions’ hosting of the leaders a week on Wednesday like a cup final in their defence of the title.
Erling Haaland scored twice, to make it 47 goals for the season, and John Stones once, with Kelechi Iheanacho’s late strike immaterial to the result, the Guardian reported.
If City’s had a superior goal difference remains intact and they win all of their last eight games a third consecutive championship is theirs. Guardiola was asked if beating relegation-threatened Leicester was important in keeping the pressure on Mikel Arteta’s side.
“Absolutely – it is win, win and win,” said the manager of what was required. “They have made an incredible run and I don’t think they will drop many points, so it is important to be in there and arrive in the final in the next PL game against them.”
Guardiola said: “It is a final to play more finals because if you lose this game, it will be almost over. We spoke a month ago that hopefully we can arrive having the chance to be there. We want this opportunity knowing how difficult it will be.”
The manager was pleased with the display against Leicester, particularly as it followed Tuesday’s 3-0 Champions League quarter-final first leg victory over Bayern Munich, Guardiola making five second-half substitutions with a view to Wednesday’s return in Germany.
“It was a really good game after the Champions League as well, against a team that is fighting and in a difficult position for them. In the end when you make a lot of substitutions you drop a little bit. I had to avoid injuries. Normally when you make changes it happens – [we got the] three points and on to the next one.”
This was Dean Smith’s first match in charge of Leicester. His team are two points from the last safe spot with 21 left to compete for. “I’m obviously disappointed but a two-goal deficit to the best team in the world isn’t the end of the world,” he said. “Our season won’t be defined here, we have a run of games where we have to win.”