Guardiola expects EPL title race to climax in final-days drama

Pep Guardiola believes Manchester City could be in store for another nail-biting final day when the Premier League title is decided on goal difference – but has told his players they must first emerge unscathed from a "terrible" February.

City will leapfrog leaders Liverpool on goal difference and return to the top of the table for the first time since early December if they beat Everton at Goodison Park on Thursday morning AEDT.

Back in the hunt: Pep Guardiola (back right) at Manchester City’s dominant win over Arsenal, combined with Liverpool’s fumbles, have opened up the Premier League title race.Credit:AP

Liverpool's 1-1 draw at West Ham United on Monday, which followed City's resounding 3-1 win over Arsenal 24 hours earlier, provided an unexpected boost for the champions in their bid to become the first top-flight side for a decade to retain the title.

But Guardiola is already banking on a nip-and-tuck championship race going to the wire – and would not be surprised if it was ultimately settled on goal difference.

The last time that happened, in 2011-12, City prevailed in dramatic circumstances, coming from 2-1 behind against Queens Park Rangers to win 3-2 and finish above bitter rivals Manchester United thanks to their superior goal difference.

"I'm pretty sure the winner will be the last fixture or the last two. I'm sure of that," said the City manager, who is hammering home to his players the importance of not only winning but trying to swell their goal difference.

Leaders: Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool remain three points clear of Guardiola’s City despite consecutive draws.Credit:AP

"The first message [to the players] is to win the game and the second one is, 'If you can score – score, and if you can avoid to concede, do it'.

"The Premier League could go [down] to goal difference, I agree. We are not going to say to the guys today we have to win 25-0. I never said that. First you have to win the game but then, second, try [to boost the goal difference] because it can happen."

Five of Guardiola's seven title successes, with City, Bayern Munich and Barcelona, have involved sauntering to glory by a winning margin of at least nine points.

But the Catalan can see parallels between this season's battle against Liverpool and the fight his Barcelona faced against Manuel Pellegrini's Real Madrid in 2009-10.

On that occasion, the teams were level on points after 25 and 30 matches in La Liga and boasted near-identical goal differences. Only a point separated them after 35 games and the race eventually went down to the final day, with Barcelona triumphing.

Like City this term, Barcelona had to navigate a hectic schedule that season and played a total of 11 more games than Real after reaching the finals of the Club World Cup, Copa del Rey and Champions League.

With tonight's game against Everton followed by the visit of Chelsea to the Etihad Stadium on Sunday, and a league match against West Ham on February 27 following an FA Cup fifth-round tie and the Carabao Cup final against Chelsea, Guardiola believes City face a make-or-break month.

But he is backing his players to embrace the fixture congestion and emerge with an extra spring in the step come March.

"In some points, it's a problem for how many games [there are] and the mental effort to be consistent in every single competition, and you know when you lose one game, you can lose that competition," Guardiola said.

"In the Carabao Cup, you lose the final and you are out. In the league, with how it's going right now, if you lose one or two games, you will be out. The Champions League, we know that with a bad 30 minutes, you are out. It is a lot of stress.

"But at the same time when you arrive after this month, into March, from my experience the days are longer, your training sessions are in better conditions, the sun is here, you see the end of the season is closer, the pitch is in better condition, you can take a coffee outside.

"In that situation, if you are in four competitions, wow, it's an extra plus, and now you are realising, 'Wow, we can do something special'.

"But we are not, right now, in that position because this month is terrible in terms of every game being a final. We have to wait."

Guardiola ripped into players during a 30-minute dressing-room inquest after the shock 2-1 defeat at Newcastle United last week but he was delighted with their reaction against Arsenal and insisted his faith in his squad was absolute.

"What I would say is I trust my players because, and I always use this example, we were 3-0 down [against Liverpool] in Champions League at Anfield [last season] but the reaction in the second half when we scored a legal goal and had an incredible penalty [turned down] with [Andrew] Robertson on Raheem Sterling was so good," he said. "I have the feeling that when I put them [under] pressure they react good.

Slip-up: Guardiola makes his opinions known during City’s shock loss to Newcastle last month.Credit:PA

"They accept the challenge. When we speak and say, 'OK, show me again how good you are, come on', they do it and they try. If we win [against Everton], we are top of the league. Who could think that? Not a month or two ago.

"The true lesson of that is never give up and focus on what you have to do. Forget about the other ones – and never give up. That's the best lesson we can learn for the last four or five months."

Telegraph, London

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