MY ACCOUNT
Pep Guardiola has told Manchester City they must not expect Liverpool to drop any points before the end of the season – apart from when they visit the Etihad Stadium next weekend.
The City manager saw his side win 2-0 at Burnley on Saturday to return to the top of the Premier League, after being deposed for a couple of hours by Jurgen Klopp’s Reds.
First-half goals from Kevin De Bruyne and Ilkay Gundogan gave City the points at Turf Moor, with this their third successive 2-0 victory over Burnley.
“We got the points and there are eight games left… 24 [points],” said Guardiola.
“Hopefully Liverpool are going to lose against us, but apart from that I don’t think they’re going to drop points. We have to feel this pressure, live it and handle it. We have to win eight games, otherwise we will not be champions.”
Guardiola’s objective is to keep the minds of his players away from the prospects of winning trophies, and drilled to focus on the importance of the next game. For City, the next task now is a Champions League quarter-final first leg at home to Atletico Madrid on Tuesday.
“We have to feel the pressure,” Guardiola said. “We have to concentrate on the Champions League, then we have five days to prepare for Liverpool.”
The former Barcelona and Bayern Munich boss added: “To be honest, we don’t speak much about being contenders to be champions this season.”
City were always expected to come out on top at Turf Moor against a relegation-threatened side, given they had won their past nine meetings with Burnley in all competitions by an aggregate score of 32-1.
Guardiola lamented City not bolstering their goal difference even further as they failed to put away any of their 12 shots in the second half, while he said Burnley’s grass was long and made his team’s task a challenge.
Raheem Sterling provided assists for both goals, and his performance pleased Guardiola, as did the fact the forward got to captain England against Ivory Coast during the international break.
“Raheem came back from the national team, with the boost of a goal and being the captain for England,” Guardiola said. “We saw today how decisive he was with all the decisions, and he played with the assists from the right side, and showed speed and everything.
“I have the feeling he is arriving in a really good moment.”
It was a win that contained several City landmarks, with De Bruyne becoming the 10th City player to reach 200 Premier League appearances, with only Fernandinho (140) picking up more victories in his first 200 Premier League games for the club than the Belgian (139).
Gundogan’s goal was his 34th in the Premier League for City, making him the outright highest-scoring German in the competition’s history, overtaking former Arsenal playmaker Mesut Ozil.
