Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola believes his team must do more in their battle with Arsenal and others

Pep Guardiola thinks that Manchester City are under more pressure than Arsenal or Manchester United to win the title.

Arsenal are eight points ahead of the reigning champions as they near the halfway point in the Premier League, while a resurgent United closed to within a point of them with a comfortable home win over Bournemouth. City have an excellent record at Stamford Bridge but will take on a Chelsea team with plenty to prove as they try and climb from 10th in the table.

Arsenal’s home draw with Newcastle has been seen by some as a minor stumble as Mikel Arteta’s youthful side are involved in their first Premier League title race, giving hope to the chasing pack. However, Guardiola pointed to the rich history of the Gunners to dismiss the idea that City have an edge on them in terms of experience.

Moreover, the City boss reckons his side have to cope with the extra expectation from neutrals that think the champions should already have wrapped up the title. That is a pressure that Arsenal and United do not have because neither were expected to seriously challenge at the beginning of the season.

“The advantage of Arsenal is he [Arteta] has not to win the Premier League from 20 points in front in November,” said Guardiola. “The way they played against Newcastle again impressed me a lot. They dropped two points but they didn’t drop the quality [with which] they played. This is my feeling.

“I don’t know what is going to happen in the future – I’ve said many times I can’t answer that – but when you play [them] the smell of the history of Arsenal has to be there. The advantage of Arsenal and Manchester United right now is nobody has to win the Premier League for 20 points ahead in November like Man City has to – and this is sometimes a big problem.

“With this Arsenal winning all their games and you are eight points behind, it can happen. But at the same time, I see the way we played the last games, and the feeling is good.

“Maybe we play s*** tomorrow but the feeling is good. The games we play we are better. My target always as a manager is to try and play better than the opponent, be yourself and be better than the opponent, and after if you concede one shot and they score and we can’t score you have to accept it and move forward.

“But what I want to see is still us fight, don’t give up, not now, until the last chance, until the last drop of water we can fight to win the Premier League and the moment we are not able to win the PL we have to be ready to compete next season.”

SOURCE: manchestereveningnews.co.uk