'I could not care less': Pep Guardiola issues new title race verdict after Arsenal setback

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Evening Standard

·20 February 2026

'I could not care less': Pep Guardiola issues new title race verdict after Arsenal setback

Pep Guardiola is aware the title race is Man City’s hands following Arsenal’s recent dip in form

Pep Guardiola has said there is a long way to go in the Premier League title race as he admitted he “could not care less” about Manchester City’s proximity to league leaders Arsenal right now.

City have the chance to cut the gap at the top of the table to two points with victory over Newcastle on Saturday evening before Arsenal travel to Tottenham on Sunday afternoon.

Arsenal have won just two of their last seven league games to hand City a route back into the title race, but Guardiola is not getting ahead of himself and said he expects “many things will happen” between now and the end of the season.

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“They were nine points when we had a game in hand. When we have played the same games. Many things will happen. Players are new, so the experience is new for them,” Guardiola said in his pre-match press conference on Friday afternoon.

Guardiola is chasing his seventh Premier League winners' medal as City boss and is no stranger to navigating the tension of a title race.

This, though, is a City team that has undergone plenty of change over the last 18 months, and Guardiola admits his players are new to the pressure that a title race brings, and can not rely on their experience to get them over the line this season.

“70 per cent of the players are new, so they don't have experience to live these kind of situations,” Guardiola continued.

City have struggled for consistency this season, but appear to be finding form at just the right time as Arsenal begin to show signs of weariness in their pursuit of a first league title in 22 years.

They host Newcastle on Saturday, knowing they can ramp up the pressure on Mikel Arteta’s side with a third straight victory in the league.

Guardiola and his squad, though, are not discussing the title, with the Spaniard knowing better than to talk up his side’s chances of winning the league 12 games from the end of the season.

“I didn't speak one second about that (the title race) with my players. Yesterday, the day before, it was just Newcastle, Newcastle and Newcastle. I didn't talk about the table, I didn't talk about the position or something like that.

I could not care less, it's 12 games. If you tell me this question, two games left, three games left, I will have your answer

Pep Guardiola

“I could not care less, it's 12 games. If you tell me this question, two games left, three games left, I will have your answer. It is the fourth time you ask me the same question, I will answer you, you should know me.

“So it's 12 games left, it's an eternity. So many things are going to happen. That is the only truth I have.”