Pep Guardiola says Manchester City must win all of their remaining five games if they are to be crowned Premier League champions.
City laid down a statement of intent to rivals Arsenal and Liverpool on Thursday night by thrashing Brighton 4-0 at the Amex Stadium.
Read more of our football news stories here:
Liverpool: Arne Slot breaks silence on replacing Klopp
Carlo Ancelotti praises Xavi U-turn as ‘right decision’
Brentford boss Frank keen to finish strong after ‘statement win’ over Luton
The victory comes a few days after Guardiola’s men booked their place in back-to-back FA Cup finals having been dumped out of the Champions League a week earlier.
Goals from Kevin De Bruyne and Julian Alvarez alongside a Phil Foden brace rounded off a fantastic performance from last season’s Treble winners, but the man in charge believes there is still work to do in the remaining weeks.
Thank you, as always, for your incredible support 🩵#ManCity pic.twitter.com/TYxXZW8cQP
— Manchester City (@ManCity) April 25, 2024
Speaking to BBC Match of the Day, he said: “I give a lot of credit because I know the opposition we face.
“Brighton have been struggling with a lot of absences this season and even so they still play with courage and never give up, they will continue to do it.
“But it is a good result for us, really good. We scored four goals, that’s the key.
“We spoke as a team that if we did not have the ball we would suffer. The players, they did it very well.
“I said before, what we have done in the past, it does not mean we will do it in the future.
“There are five games left, we know the margins are so tight. We have to win every one. Each game we are closer.”
🗣️ “How big of a statement have you made tonight?”
💪 “The statement is 3 points. This is the only statement”Pep Guardiola reacts to Man City’s 4-0 win against Brighton 💯 pic.twitter.com/oy1XIvPvEs
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) April 25, 2024
The win sees City close the gap to Arsenal to just one point, but the champions do have a game in hand and the Gunners travel to Tottenham this weekend in a must-win match.
Liverpool were beaten 2-0 by Everton on Wednesday but Guardiola refused to write the Reds off, even though they have the opportunity to go five points clear of Jurgen Klopp’s side.
When asked if the title race was down to two teams now, he said: “It is not. What happened to Liverpool, two defeats in a row, it can happen to Arsenal, it can happen to us.
“What is important is that still we are there. There is a lot of games to play.”
