Pep Guardiola says Manchester City have no room for error

The boss does not expect Arsenal to slip up in the Premier League title race

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola reacts on the touchline during the Premier League match at the Etihad Stadium, Manchester. Picture date: Saturday May 4, 2024. (PA Wire)

Pep Guardiola is convinced Manchester City will need to win all three of their remaining fixtures to see off Arsenal in the title race.

The champions will claim a fourth successive Premier League crown if they beat Fulham, Tottenham and West Ham in their final games.

Yet any slip-up could open the door for the Gunners, who currently lead the table by a point but have played one match more.

City manager Guardiola said: “If we win the games we will be champions, so the players know it, feel it, and have the experience of doing it in the past. But they have to do it again.

“It’s going to be easy? No. It’s in our hands but everyone knows you cannot make one little mistake because you will lose the Premier League. They know it, we know it.

“You see their level of consistency since the winter break, the way they are playing. It’s not the fact that they are winning, it’s the way they play.

It’s in our hands but everyone knows you cannot make one little mistake because you will lose the Premier League

Pep Guardiola

“You smell that they are not going to lose in the games they have left. They are not going to.”

City emphatically underlined their status as favourites by hammering Wolves 5-1 at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday.

Erling Haaland scored four goals as Guardiola’s side issued a strong response to Arsenal’s victory over Bournemouth earlier in the day.

The running order is reversed next weekend as City travel to Fulham on Saturday before Arsenal play at Manchester United the following day.

That could give City the chance to land a psychological blow by going top, but Guardiola does not particularly see that as an advantage.

He said: “If we play Fulham after or before we have to win, and Arsenal know they have to win.

“When we arrived (on Saturday) the players knew guys if we didn’t win – ciao ciao, bye bye. See each other next season. It’s not complicated. It doesn’t matter if it’s before or after.”