Guardiola：I know Arteta well, and we know our opponents won’t give up. If we were 10 points ahead, I could say the title race is over, but we are still two points behind, so we must defeat West Ham and Fulham.
Guardiola: We must defeat West Ham and Fulham
In the 34th round of the Premier League, Man City is set to face Fulham away. Prior to the game, the head coach Guardiola attended a press conference.
On the win against Arsenal
We didn’t do anything special, just the usual routine. We had a recovery session and had a day off today.
We are confident for the game against Fulham. We have been working together for many years, so we have that confidence in each other.
There are many games happening now and winning the games helps to prepare for the next one. We have a chance on Sunday.
On Fulham
Guardiola：They are a good team. Mitrovic is not playing, which is important for them. We need to maintain aggression and attack forward during the game.
On the series of matches starting from Bayern
Guardiola：Against Bayern, we didn’t focus on possession. We increased our attacking speed, and before that, we need to play quick passes.
Against Bayern, we need to make them move a lot before we can speed up.
On the update of Aguero’s situation
Guardiola：He is better than before. Players understand their bodies and reactions. He hasn’t trained with the team yet.
I know it’s not long, but there is a chance tomorrow. The trainer said he hasn’t trained with the team, but I think there’s still a chance.
On De Bruyne this season
Guardiola：He is the same as a month ago, whether he plays or not. You can’t expect every player who has been playing for 10 years to play a match every three days and keep going.
Sometimes you have to see the problem, so it’s okay to let him relax a bit, and his standard is still high.
On the title race
Guardiola：It’s not over until the end of the season.
We have seven more games to play, and the next thing is to focus on our own games. We know what happened after we won at the Etihad Stadium, and then we drew with Nottingham Forest in the next game.
Now we are going to Fulham, facing a good team. We don’t take anything for granted. We are happy about the last game and our performance, but that’s in the past.
I know we don’t have 20 games left now, just seven games. We also have the Champions League to consider.
Don’t misunderstand me, even if we are 10 points behind, I trust my players. The players are the same, and you have to guide them every day to make sure it works.
Losing is part of the game. We are here to try to win the championship. It feels good, but we have to prove it again.
On Real Madrid
Guardiola：I haven’t planned anything (for the game against Real Madrid), but of course I have some thoughts, especially if they are different from last year…
Usually, I care about the next game.
We don’t have time to allocate anything in proportion. Winning the championship again is the same level of competition as in the Champions League. Every week, every game against every team is the same. I focus on Fulham, then West Ham, then Leeds.
Then, we’ll prepare for Real Madrid.
On player progress
Guardiola：Of course, there is (leadership from other players), such as Gundogan, Walker, Carson.
We usually discuss the game itself, and sometimes doing certain things always makes the team better. I don’t want my team to always be mediocre, and that’s the worst result, whether it’s good or bad. We also need to show our charm, passion, and love after winning the championship.
I don’t give them inspirational speeches, just let them feel it themselves. I didn’t say anything extra to them before the Arsenal game. They know what it’s like to play in the Premier League. The players said they were “calm” during warm-up, they were relaxed, and they knew what they had to do, just like Real Madrid knew what they were fighting for in the Champions League.
On maintaining winning momentum
Guardiola：We do have some margin for error. We have seven games, but our opponents have five, which is really close. After beating Arsenal at the Etihad Stadium, our performance against Nottingham Forest was one of the best.
From London, in the middle of the night… this team played very well, but we dropped points.
Is Man City one point away from securing Champions League qualification?
Guardiola：Yes, I already have the champagne ready (laughs). Ask Arsenal what it means to be absent (from the Champions League), it’s definitely an achievement.
On competing with Arsenal for the title
Guardiola：I know Arteta well, and we know our opponents won’t give up. If we were 10 points ahead, I could say the title race is over, but we are still two points behind, so we must defeat West Ham and Fulham. The reality is that if the season ends now, Arsenal will win the championship. You have to understand this, and you could drop points in a week.
It’s possible – you could drop points and continue to drop points in a week, we must realize this.
