3 weeks ago
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Man City boss Pep Guardiola has made his stance on the Premier League title race clear with Arsenal currently leading by six points
Pep Guardiola has claimed that his players cannot afford to be distracted by the twists and turns of the Premier League title race. Manchester City could slash Arsenal's lead at the top of the table to just three points when they face Fulham at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday night.
The Spaniard has the opportunity to pile the pressure on his former assistant, whose side isn't in action until Thursday evening when they take on Brentford at the G-Tech Community Stadium. However, Guardiola has distanced himself from the mind games.
Instead, he wants to focus on ironing out the inconsistencies in his team. The City boss said: "I understand how nice, nine points, three points this kind of stuff [is]. That’s OK, but that does not make winning titles or arriving in the latter stages to win or be close to fight to win the titles.
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"Every time in the last month and last weeks when I go before the games in a flash interview, always if you lose you are losing everything and you are going to disappear from Planet Earth and this kind of stuff.
"What I’m saying is what we have to do to beat Fulham, what we have to do to be better and to be closer to make the first half in Anfield and [not] the second. What is the reason why in the second half still we are dropping our performance?
"Not three, four, five, six [points], because if we don’t do that, we will not win, maybe not Fulham, maybe it’ll be against Newcastle or maybe in the next game at Leeds."
While City may be expected to narrow Arsenal's lead in the title race, Guardiola anticipates a tough clash. He said: "Fulham is better every season, with the movements.
"When I see for example their game against Manchester United this morning, that they lost at the end to the [Benjamin] Sesko goal, they are really good. The patterns and quality they have, the composure with the play and the speed they have.
"Defensive and offensive is really good. Marco [Silva] is one of the top, top managers I’ve faced. Even though the results have been good because Man City have more opportunities in terms of top players.
"But he is a top, top manager and has the destiny to be one of top ones in a few years for sure."
If City fail to at least draw against Fulham on Wednesday night, Arsenal could go nine points clear in the title race.
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