'We have to..' - Man City boss Pep Guardiola issues strong warning to Liverpool and Arsenal

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola believes the Premier League title race could go to the wire as the pressure mounts at the top of the table.

Third-placed City kept up the pressure on the sides above them with a Phil Foden inspired 4-1 win over Aston Villa at the Etihad on Wednesday evening. Victory sees City (67 points) a point behind leaders Arsenal and level on points with Liverpool who play Sheffield United at home this evening.

Reflecting on the win over Villa, Guardiola said: “If we win all our games it will go until the last day because they are not five, six, seven points in front,” he said. “It will not be easy. The feeling I have is not easy. I see Liverpool and Arsenal playing, they don’t drop points, it will not be easy.

“But we have to do our job and don’t regret, ‘Oh, we should have won that game because they lost after’. We cannot do anything, we do not play against them any more so we don’t control what Liverpool and Arsenal do. All we can do is win our games.”

Guardiola added: “We were out of the title race three or four days ago and not playing good, the team was not playing like we did the last six seasons. Now we are in the best form in the league? Come on, guys…

“We’ve won a lot of the last games. I cannot say in the game against Arsenal I didn’t recognise my team. We were there all the time, we didn’t create chances because of the quality of defence and because we missed some presence in the box, but the rest, I recognise completely my team. That’s why we are calm. As I said, it’s tight, it’s not seven or eight points. It’s close. We have to wait. They have to lose points, otherwise it will not be possible, but again the team has been exceptional this season, exceptional.”