Manchester City now find themselves five points behind Arsenal in the race for the Premier League crown with just four games to go and Pep Guardiola believes the Gunners are the favourite
Pep Guardiola
Pep Guardiola has sahred his view on the title race(Image: Getty Images)
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Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola admits that the race for the Premier League is now out of his side’s hands. City now sit five points behind rivals Arsenal with just four games of the season to play following Monday’s dramatic draw with Everton.
Jeremy Doku had given Guardiola’s side the lead at Hill Dickinson Stadium but a stunning 13-minute collapse saw Thierno Barry score twice either side of a Jake O’Brien goal. City did manage to snatch a late point as Erling Haaland scored, while Doku fired home another in stoppage time.
But it wasn’t enough for the visitors, who are now powerless to stop Arsenal claiming the title should they win each of their remaining three games. Speaking after Monday’s result, Guardiola said: “We need to win our games. Now it is not in our hands.
“If they win their games the title will be for Arsenal. Now have to win our next game, we have to recover well for a series of games, and this is what we have to do.”
“The point is better than no points, but it would have been better to win the game,” the Spanish coach added. “Many things happened – the difficulty of the opponent, the incredibly aggressive way they play.
“We had composure in the first half and after they made a step up [in the second half] we maybe didn’t have the intention that we did in the first half. Our second and third goals were outstanding and we take a point.
“It was in our hands and in Arsenal’s hands, and now it is not in our hands. But we have Brentford on Saturday and we continue and we’ll see what happens.
Manchester City
City are now not in control of their own destiny(Image: Getty Images)
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“Better effort cannot be possible. The message is the same as the day before. We have four games left and a final – win the games. That is the message. We play for that, even with difficulties for many reasons.”
Guardiola however was full of praise for his players and the fightback they staged against Everton. He said: “We knew we had to win the game with how many games we had left, but without that emotion you cannot come back. If you give up, you cannot do what we have done tonight.”
City are back in action as they host Brentford at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday, with Arsenal travelling to struggling West Ham a day later. Before that, Mikel Arteta’s side have the small matter of a Champions League semi-final second leg against Atletico Madrid to navigate.
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