If Man City lose 'it's over', says Guardiola ahead of Arsenal title showdown
Pep Guardiola's (L) Manchester City are trying to usurp Mikel Arteta's (R) Arsenal at the top of the Premier League (Glyn KIRK) Pep Guardiola said an Arsenal victory at Manchester City on Sunday would end the Premier League title race, but that his side would have a lot more work to do even if they beat the Gunners. Mikel Arteta's men hold a six point lead at the top of the table, but City have home advantage and a game in hand on the leaders. Should Guardiola's side win the battle between the top two and at struggling Burnley on Wednesday, they would go top for the first time in months.
Aiming to win a first league title in 22 years, Arsenal appear to have hit the wall in recent weeks. Defeat to City in the League Cup final last month has sparked a run of just one win in five games in all competitions. However, Guardiola is wary of the challenge facing his side in the coming weeks with tricky visits to Everton and Bournemouth in the run-in.
"If we lose, yeah, it's over," said Guardiola at his pre-match press conference on Friday. "But the other two results, knowing that Arsenal didn't win (against) Bournemouth, we still have games to play. "Six games is a lot, given our calendar (run-in) especially.
" Arsenal have also faced the extra strain of edging past Sporting Lisbon to reach the Champions League semi-finals in midweek, while City have had seven days to prepare. Arteta hailed his players' effort in becoming the only English side to make the final four despite a brutal schedule across four competitions. Guardiola insisted Arsenal have shown themselves to be the best team in England until now and warned his players about being "distracted" by the focus on the title race.
"They have been the best so far but we want to challenge them," added Guardiola. "I said today to the players, 'it is just a football game' and we have to approach it like a football game. If you get distracted by emotions, that is how you lose focus.