Pep Guardiola’s views of the sun were plentiful in the second half of Manchester City’s match at Chelsea on Sunday, and so, too, is his side’s sight of a Premier League title.
MORE —Recap, video highlights, full match replay
City have control of their title destiny after getting goals from Nico O’Reilly, Jeremy Doku, and Marc Guehi at Stamford Bridge, six points back of Arsenal with a match-in-hand and a Week 33 meeting with the Gunners.
Guardiola offered a number of comments on the upcoming match-up with Arsenal, praising the success of the Gunners.
All his initial post-match thoughts, and those of Cherki and Guehi, are below.
Pep Guardiola reaction — What did Manchester City manager say after scrap with Chelsea?
What did you say at halftime? “Second half that was so much better. It was not bad the first half but some were not as we want to be. We attacked a little bit on the left side but on the right side they played without threat.”
Were you happier with Cherki’s defensive work than even his attacking skill? “Jeremy [Doku] at right is an extraordinary attacker. From Rayan, sometimes he plays in the position too close to Donnarumma. Your talent has to be in the final third. Be there. Be close to Haaland and the wingers. We’ll bring the ball to you there. He’s so young and back in his first Premer League season. He is already an extraordinary player but he has the desire to better.”
Is this team finding same strength as past title runs? “The past was something unique but we are growing. We are more fresh without the Champions League. Everyone knows what they have to do. Three opponents, three Champions League teams and we perform, I wouldn’t say 90 minutes, but we were solid enough and didn’t concede much and the threat is there.”
“It’s boring to watch our team, I know that. The shape can be different but the intention was to create the problems and make long balls. It’s happened, the idea over 18 years. Sometimes the shape is not the point.”
Six points and two wins away from first place in the title race: “The question of this week will be that we’re going to play against a team that in 49 games lost three, that in Champions League lost once. In these type of games, there is not one person in this country that could bet one pound that we’re much better [than them]. The respect I have for Arsenal over the last three years... it will be the biggest job we have to work in our heads. Maybe we’ll adjust something. They will adjust something but they have been the best team in Europe so far. To beat Arsenal once is so difficult. Imagine beating them twice in a few weeks. I would like to say to my fans, respect Arsenal a lot. Come to join us from minute one because the players will do the maximum. We will try.”
Marc Guehi reaction
Thoughts on the game: “Second half especially we did well. We just want to improve and get better. When we have players like this guy it’s fantastic. We’ll recover and go again.”
Should Arsenal take notice of this performance? “I don’t think it matters. The most important thing even though it’s cliche is that we did the job today and we can focus on the game coming up now. Onto the next one.”
Rayan Cherki reaction
On Guehi’s goal: “When I get the pass to him, I’m not good because I didn’t know if he’d score but I was very happy. Now we can go play against Arsenal. That’s a big game for us.”
Quite an assist? “It’s not my pass. You can see when he controlled the ball, the touch was very nice. The ball was not good, but I’m very happy for him.”
On Pep’s comments about Cherki being loose: “I don’t feel the pressure. I don’t want to feel the pressure. I just want to play with my teammates, give them pleasure because we need goals.”