Guardiola told a press conference on Friday: "12 games is a lot. Newcastle is all I am concerned with. I'm not concerned with the League Cup final with Arsenal until it comes. Now it's Newcastle, rest and after Leeds. I don't know what is going to happen these next 12 games. I didn't speak one second about that with my players.
"Yesterday and the day before it was Newcastle, Newcastle, Newcastle. I didn't talk about the position or the table. I could not care less. It's 12 games. Ask me this question with two or three games and I will answer but 12 games left is an eternity. That is the only truth I have.
"They were nine points [in front] because we had a game in hand. When everybody has the same fixtures, and after we have the differences. Many things are going to happen until the end of the season. 70 per cent of the players are new so they don't have that experience of these kind of situations. Experience is win tomorrow."