Pep Guardiola believes Manchester City will win the Premier League if they maintain their current level of performance despite drawing their past three matches to leave them three points behind leaders Arsenal.
City travel to Aston Villa on Wednesday night in search of first win in four league games after surrendering leads against Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham. “My feeling today is we’re going to win the Premier League,” Guardiola said. “If we play at the levels that we showed against Liverpool and Tottenham, we’re going to win it again.
“People don’t believe it already after three draws but we feel we’re going to do it again – knowing that it is not easy because no team has done it yet [won four in a row]. The difficulty is there and was last season but if you ask me today what I’m feeling we’re going to do it again.”
City players were upset that the referee Simon Hooper stopped play when Jack Grealish was through on goal in the final moments of Sunday’s 3-3 draw against Tottenham. It has led to the club being charged for failing to control their players. “We behaved incredibly this season,” Guardiola said. “How we behaved in our not good results or decisions, even after the game the comments from my players accepting we can do better, is what I want to see from my team and my club,”
Guardiola said he did not think his team require the perceived injustice to inspire them. “We never use these kind of situations. Today the motivation is to try and do better. Sometimes decisions help you, sometimes they don’t. I learn that if you want to win something you have to do it much, much better than the opponents.”
Grealish and Rodri are suspended for the Villa game. When the Spaniard missed three matches earlier in the season after his sending-off against Nottingham Forest, City lost all three. “We won’t deny how important he is but if he is not there because he is suspended like Jack we will find the best solution to compete against Aston Villa,” Guardiola said.
after newsletter promotion
One option is a rare Kalvin Phillips start or John Stones could be afforded his first minutes since early November after injury. “He [Stones] can play there and Manu Akanji can and Nathan [Aké] can as well,” Guardiola said.
