Pep Guardiola makes Arsenal title race claim | OneFootball

Pep Guardiola thinks Manchester City need to win all of their remaining games, as any slip will hand Arsenal the Premier League title.

MANCHESTER, ENGLAND: Pep Guardiola, Manager of Manchester City, reacts during the Premier League match between Manchester City and Arsenal FC at Etihad Stadium on March 31, 2024. (Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images) (Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)

Though Arsenal currently lead the Premier League table, Manchester City have the advantage in the title race, given they have a game in hand. City know that if they win their remaining games, they’ll win the title, with only three matches to play.

Even if City don’t win all three matches, they could still win the league if Arsenal also slip up in their last two, or if City win so convincingly that the goal difference gap swings back to their advantage.

But Pep Guardiola believes his team don’t have that kind of room for error, and if they drop any further points, Arsenal will win the league.

Manchester City’s Spanish manager Pep Guardiola reacts during the English Premier League football match between Manchester City and Arsenal at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester, north west England, on March 31, 2024. (Photo by DARREN STAPLES/AFP via Getty Images)

“If we play Fulham before or after Arsenal, we still have to win,” Guardiola said at the weekend. “And Arsenal know they have to win.

“Not just the the players, the staff, the fans – everyone knows you cannot make one little mistake, because you will lose the Premier League.

“They know it, we know it, with what happened with Liverpool in the past. We arrived here (against Wolves) and the players knew ‘guys, if we don’t win, Ciao, Ciao, bye-bye, next season we see each other’.

“It’s not complicated. It doesn’t matter if we play before or after. Hopefully we win against Fulham, then Arsenal will play at Old Trafford, where they [United] are playing for the Europa League.

“It’s not the fact that [Arsenal are] winning, it’s the way they play, so you smell that they’re not going to lose in the games they have left. They’re not going to.”

LONDON, ENGLAND: Mikel Arteta, Manager of Arsenal, applauds the fans after the team’s victory in the Premier League match between Arsenal FC and AFC Bournemouth at Emirates Stadium on May 04, 2024. (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)

Arsenal arguably have the harder fixtures remaining, facing Manchester United away from home before playing a resurgent Everton side on the final day of the season.

Meanwhile, Manchester City play three of the most out-of-form teams in the division, and their only difficult game on paper is against a Tottenham Hotspur side who may well have nothing to play for. Their fans won’t want the team to help Arsenal’s title challenge anyway.

The one advantage Arsenal have is that they already have an extra point on the board, and City have an extra opportunity to make a mistake. But history suggests they won’t.