City moved up to third with victory over Bournemouth.
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola wants his side to end a tough season with Champions League qualification (Martin Rickett/PA).
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola wants his side to end a tough season with Champions League qualification (Martin Rickett/PA). (PA Wire)
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Pep Guardiola believes Champions League qualification would be a significant achievement for Manchester City after their struggles this season but warned the job is not done yet.
Tuesday’s 3-1 win over Bournemouth in Kevin De Bruyne’s final home game for the club saw City move up to third in the table with one game left to play and a point at Fulham on Sunday will almost certainly be enough to seal a top-five place.
For a club that has won the Premier League title in each of the past four seasons qualifying for the Champions League has felt like a given for several years, but City’s inconsistency this term has left them in a fight despite the extra place on offer this year.
Tuesday’s win would have been enough for City to seal their place had they not drawn 0-0 at Southampton in their previous league game, failing to beat the league’s bottom side despite having 26 shots at goal.
That came before the disappointment of Saturday’s 1-0 FA Cup final defeat to Crystal Palace, but Guardiola, who insisted his had been the better side in both results, was happy with the way they responded against Bournemouth as Omar Marmoush, Bernardo Silva and Nico Gonzalez were on target.
“In both games (against Southampton and Palace) we were better,” he said. “We drew one, we lost one. It’s football, it’s fine. It would be different if we lift (the cup), but now it’s forgotten and we focused on Bournemouth.
“They destroyed us in the first game (a 2-1 City defeat in November), they were miles better, so I know the intensity we had to play with.
“I think the three in the middle – (Mateo) Kovacic, (Ilkay) Gundogan) and especially Bernardo were outstanding and Erling (Haaland) is getting step by step a little better with his rhythm, but it is not easy after four, five weeks out.
“We gave away chances with the red card (for Kovacic) and the goal conceded, but I remember for four or five months that happened in every single game and for a long time it didn’t happen so we have to correct it.
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“Now the final game is Fulham. Marco Silva has taken a lot of points from us, it is so tough to take the point we need, but of course it is really, really important. To be in the Champions League after the season that happened would be nice.”
Bournemouth were inches away from levelling the game at 1-1 when Evanilson hit a post but otherwise did not do enough to threaten until Daniel Jebbison’s stoppage-time consolation goal.
Defeat saw their own European hopes come to an end before their final game at home to Leicester.
“We wanted to carry on the chances to the last game, but really they were very, very small chances because of the recent results,” boss Andoni Iraola said.
“But it would mean still fighting for Europe until the last game, but it was a difficult day, we could see straight away City didn’t want to make any mistake. It was very big for them and from the first minute they started very strong.”