Pep Guardiola believes Arsenal will be crowned Premier League champions if Manchester City lose a game before the end of the season.
Mikel Arteta’s side currently have a six-point advantage at the top of the Premier League but the Gunners have played one game more than City, who have nine league games remaining.
City have the chance to close that gap on Saturday evening as they host Leicester City at the Etihad Stadium, while Arsenal travel to West Ham in Sunday’s late kick-off.
And ahead of City’s clash with Leicester, Guardiola has warned his players that they must go unbeaten for the remainder of the league campaign in order to stand a chance of overtaking Arsenal.
‘Consistency and the fact that we are winning games and we could not do it earlier in the season,’ Guardiola said on Friday when asked why City have shown a significant improvement in recent weeks.
‘Our good games were really, really good as well but we were not consistent. Everyone knows if we lose those games we will not win the title and that is why our intentions and details are higher.
‘It is the same tomorrow, if we lose the game we will not be champions.
‘If we win we could still be there because we cannot forget we are six points behind Arsenal a team that has dropped few points throughout the season and play one game a week with a lot of time to recover and analyse.
‘It will be difficult to win and drop points, that is why we have to be there as much as possible.
‘Our problem is Arsenal was amazing so far. They do really well but our performance in general is not bad at all. I would say it is not a disaster. We are still there but there is another one better than you, you have to accept it and admit it and keep going.
‘Honestly I don’t know [if Arsenal’s fixture schedule will play a factor].
‘Sometimes I will experience every four days games and we are in a rythmn and this helps us. We will play a lot of competitions to the end and it helps us. Sometimes we play one week lose the rythmn when it is a week.
‘Sometimes when we play Saturday and Tuesday, the minds of the players are always in here. If we have one week or two days off we lose this rythmn. In six or seven weeks it is over and the players will do everything to keep going.’
When asked if City’s success in previous seasons will have an impact on their race with Arsenal this year, Guardiola said: ‘The only impact I believe is the fact that everyone knows that if we lose it is over. It is the best way to compete. This is when you have the best.
‘The reality is we are six points behind no guarantee we will win the games behind.
‘There is no team better than Brighton in modern football. Arsenal is no guarantee. We need to win our games, that is the reality. At the end of the games we will see the reality.’
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