Josko Gvardiol sends strong title race warning to Manchester City squad despite Arsenal setback | OneFootball

Josko Gvardiol is adamant that Manchester City have more teams than Arsenal to worry about as they look to reclaim the Premier League title this season.

Arne Slot’s Liverpool outclassed everyone last season and won the Premier League title by 10 points ahead of the Gunners – while City finished third on 71 points to end a historic run of winning four Premier League titles in a row.

But at present, Anfield is undergoing devastation as the Reds have won just five games from their past 15 games in all competitions, losing heavily to Manchester City, Crystal Palace and Nottingham Forest in what has been a treacherous start to their title defence.

On the other hand, Arsenal lead the table with 15 games played, having accrued 33 points in that time. City are trailing Mikel Arteta’s side by two points after closing the gap to the top of the table on the back of three straight albeit narrow victories.

City received further encouragement in their hunt of Arsenal at the weekend as they saw off Sunderland in a 3-0 win while Arsenal suffered a dramatic late defeat to Aston Villa courtesy of Emiliano Buendia’s 95th minute winner at Villa Park.

Despite a monumental weekend of results in the Premier League, Manchester City defender Josko Gvardiol has remained stoic and conservative in his outlook on the title race, admitting there is still plenty of time left for teams to climb and fall.

“First of all, they (Arsenal) have a good team. It’s not just them, it’s Aston Villa, Chelsea is good. Sunderland two weeks ago were there at the top. It won’t be easy and the season is long,” Gvardiol said in an interview with the Manchester Evening News. 

“We’re not even at the halfway stage (of the 2025-26 season). Still a lot of games to play. Two points behind so we are getting closer. We need to build it up like we have for the last two or three months.”

The turn of the year displays a time for City where slip-ups could become more prominent given they look ahead to games against Crystal Palace, Nottingham Forest and Sunderland before facing Chelsea on New Year’s Day – and Gvardiol is aware that each game could be a turning point, for better or worse. 

The 23-year-old, who headed in Manchester City’s second goal against Sunderland on Saturday, added: “Right before the warm-up (against Sunderland), we saw that they (Arsenal) conceded in the last minute.

“Every game is important and we need to win every game. It’s a big three points and now focus on Wednesday. I remember in my first season (2023-24), we were on top and fighting for the Premier League and you go Fulham away, all the games you need to win. If you lose or drop points, that’s it.”

City face Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday at the Santiago Bernabeu, where three points could take Guardiola’s men into the top eight of the group-phase and strengthen their bid for automatic qualification to the Round of 16 stage.