Guardiola makes Chelsea, Arsenal title race claim after Man City dodge Fulham fright | OneFootball

Man City boss Pep Guardiola insists Chelsea are impressing him “more and more every day” in the Premier League title race with Arsenal “so strong”.

After taking a 5-1 lead against Fulham in the Premier League on Tuesday night, the Citizens almost managed to throw the game away as Marco Silva’s side got the scoreline back to 5-4.

However, Man City held on to three precious points to go within just two points of Premier League leaders Arsenal, who face Brentford on Wednesday evening.

Chelsea are their next closest rivals with Enzo Maresca’s side four points behind Man City ahead of their Wednesday night clash against Leeds United at Elland Road.

And Guardiola has been particularly impressed by the evolution of Chelsea in recent weeks after watching their 1-1 draw against Arsenal over the weekend.

Following Man City’s win over Fulham, Guardiola said: “Arsenal are so strong and so solid.

“So I know what we have to do, I know if we drop points it will be so difficult, we have to put in our mindset that it will be difficult but at the same time the Premier League is so long.

“I promise you I am the oldest manager in the Premier League and have enough experience to make a long, long run to try to fight to win the Premier League. It is so long.

“Chelsea impress me more and more every day with Enzo [Maresca], but it’s long.

“Premier League is so long, many things will happen. We won six Premier Leagues, four or five when we were December, January or February we were behind.

“The team who wins the Premier League is the team who grows during the months and this is what we try to do. No injuries, it’s so long.

“But at the same time, if we push, we will be better and push ourselves and control the situations better, the emotions and we will see what happens.”

Maresca played down Chelsea being title challengers in December but insists that Chelsea can be labelled that later in the season if they are still in the mix.

The Chelsea boss said: “We are in December, if in February or March we are where we are now, we are going to be title contenders. But if in February or March we are not there… so for me it’s too early.

“From [Leeds] on, we have eight games just in December. In January we have eight games. So they are the two months that are more complicated.

“If we are able to survive and be there in February or March, for sure we’re going to be there. But now, I don’t know where we’re going to be in February.”