Pep Guardiola has anointed Liverpool the clear title favorites and declared Manchester City only the third probably champions after a 0-0 draw with Arsenal.
The City manager admitted it was not in his hands to win a record fourth successive Premier League title, and on the day Jurgen Klopp’s side overtook Arsenal, Guardiola said Liverpool now had their best probability of winning the title
“Whoever is first is always the favorite, Arsenal is second and we are third,” he explained. “It’s not in our hands. If you’re at the top of the league – like we were before – you’re the favorite.”
Guardiola said he believed his team was still playing the better of the three title contenders. When asked about it, he replied: “Man City. Your reaction, don’t you agree? You pretend it’s 7-0 every week for six years.
City managed just one shot on target against the Gunners and Guardiola joked that the only way to counter a deep defense was to “kill someone”. He added: “When teams defend like that it is difficult. They defended well in the low block. I met my team, I’m very proud.”
City have now taken just four points from six games against the other five, compared to 16 from a possible 24 last season.
“The numbers are there,” Guardiola said. “But aside from Arsenal leaving, [in] others were really good. Even then we had our possibilities. Top six [games], [Aston] Villa away was the worst. The remainder of the time we played very well. I would like to research the performance. If you say 4 points versus 16, that shall be a giant difference.
Arteta reveled in the difference from Arsenal’s previous visit to the Etihad Stadium, once they lost 4-1 last April, which significantly weakened their title challenge.
His team became the first away team to maintain an away clean sheet in the Premier League since Crystal Palace in 2021, 47 games ago, and Arteta praised his side for their outstanding defense, while believing they should do more attackingly to win matches.
He said: “You need to win the game. You’re on the brink of win it. If you may’t win, make sure to draw it. We did it. We were here eleven months ago and the story was completely different. It was a very exciting match. A very tough match, a really demanding opponent. I assumed we competed very well. Defensively we were outstanding.
– It’s been three years since they have not scored a goal at home, which shows that they’re a special team. The downside is that we had several opportunities to attain. We didn’t take full advantage of it. I feel the next step shall be to master the ball in the first phase to give you the chance to attack higher.
We’re improving, we’re competing higher, and we understand how you can compete in these games. There is yet one more step to win the championship and that’s what you must do. Today we managed to attract and we still need to enhance lots to win.
Credit : www.independent.co.uk