**Pep Guardiola has sent a warning to his Manchester City squad ahead of a key Premier League meeting with fellow top four hopefuls Brighton and Hove Albion this weekend.**
The Premier League champions are fifth in the league table after Nottingham Forest took a giant step towards securing their place in next season’s UEFA Champions League with a late 1-0 win over City last week.
City have 10 games to go and are two points adrift of fourth-placed Chelsea as they embark upon a run of games that appear kinder than the stretch of fixtures the Blues have faced since January.
However, Guardiola is aware of the task at hand for City and is not hiding away from how important it is for the club to secure a seat in next season’s Champions League.
Speaking in a press conference on Friday, the Catalan said: “We have to reach the highest and best possible level to qualify for Europe. Definitely. We have to be consistent as much as possible, 10 games left – six at home, four away and at home – we have tough, tough games; Brighton, Aston Villa, Bournemouth.
“Most of the games are really, really, really tough! We have to do better, because there are many teams in this target and we missed an important chance last week and we deserved to. We are not like we are. I like to deserve success, deserve our wins, and in that game – we didn’t deserve it.”
**This is a developing story. More to follow.**