Man City won a brave 2-1 victory over Newcastle, thereby putting pressure on Arsenal after they lost the two-goal lead and drew 2-2 against bottom-ranked Wolves in the middle of the week. This result helped Man City narrow the gap with Arsenal to 2 points.
If Mikel Arteta's team loses points against Tottenham Hotspur in the North London derby, Man City can rise to the top of the table by winning their upcoming postponed match.
After the victory against Newcastle, Pep Guardiola celebrated passionately. When asked about this, he shared: "This is a great victory for Man City because Newcastle is an incredible team.
They are an excellent team, with physical strength in midfield and very good speed in attack. The match was really difficult but the whole team played excellently”.
Arsenal still has to visit Etihad in April and Man City has won 16 of their last 19 home matches in the league. Overall, Guardiola has experience overcoming Arsenal in the race for the championship in the late season.
Man City has won all nine of the last matches of the 2023-2024 season to lift the Premier League championship trophy for the fourth consecutive time, an unprecedented record.
When asked if he felt as ready as usual for the final stage of the season, Guardiola added: "Seventy percent of players have never experienced such a situation and neither do I.
Today's match is exactly what we will face in the next 11 matches. Each match will be like that, a true battle," Guardiola said.
The Spanish coach predicts that there will be difficult times on the Man City team's path to conquering the championship under a new face, as they are still competing in the Champions League, FA Cup and Carabao Cup, despite winning 5 consecutive matches recently.
He said: "Many things will happen. I have a feeling that we will not win all the remaining matches. As for Arsenal, I don't know. But I have a premonition that, because of the matches in the FA Cup, Champions League, then troubles will come. Many matches. Injuries will come.
The best way right now is to relax and focus on the match with Leeds, then we will consider what will happen next. Everything will depend on our form, it needs to be better, even better.
According to Guardiola, Man City has many new players, who have not experienced a tense championship race. Therefore, he wants his students to learn to adapt. He wants them to enjoy the victory against Newcastle, then train seriously for 3 sessions before traveling to Leeds.
That's the right way. I know how difficult it will be. If things don't go smoothly, we will continue to move forward, never give up. Ten or eleven matches will have a lot of things happening in the Premier League," Guardiola concluded.
