Pep Guardiola has warned his Manchester City squad that their upcoming clash with Arsenal will count for nothing unless they first beat Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.
With the Premier League title race tightening after Arsenal’s slip-up at Bournemouth, the City manager stressed there is no margin for error as the season enters its final stretch.
City have been boosted by results elsewhere, but Guardiola insisted all focus must remain on Sunday’s trip to west London rather than the looming showdown with Arsenal.
“Talking about Arsenal, if you don’t win at Stamford Bridge – that’s not an easy place to go – maybe we don’t need to make the press conference before Arsenal because it’ll be over,” Guardiola told reporters.
“Everybody knows it. You know it, I know it, the players know it, everybody knows it. England knows it. So, there’s how many games left? You have to win all of them, all. Not one draw, no. Forget about it.”
With just eight matches remaining, Guardiola said his side must maintain a perfect record to have any chance of retaining the title, rejecting the idea that past success guarantees future results.
“The aura doesn’t make you feel wins. For most of the players, not now but in recent past, it’s just, ‘OK, we have done it many times, we can do it again’,” Guardiola explained.
“But that doesn’t define a season in the Premier League. The season in the Premier League is 11 months and in the 11 months, there were a lot of games that we were good, but not good enough to win. Because now we are not seventh or eighth in the Premier League, we are second and fighting. It’s not a bad season.”
