Pep Guardiola remembers Kevin De Bruyne in heartwarming press conference moment after Fulham win | OneFootball

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola accidentally referred to Erling Haaland as Kevin De Bruyne in a heartwarming press conference moment on Wednesday night.

The Blues cut Arsenal’s lead down to three points as goals from Antoine Semenyo, Nico O’Reilly and Erling Haaland secured a 3-0 win over Fulham at the Etihad Stadium, with the Gunners facing Brentford at the Gtech Community Stadium on Thursday evening.

City have given themselves renewed hope in the title race after coming from behind to seal a thrilling comeback win over Liverpool at Anfield last week and maintaining their recent purple patch with another three points against Fulham this week.

A dominant first-half showing from Manchester City more or less sealed the three points in the first-half on Wednesday night, though the jury remains out on whether the Blues’ second-half performances of late are good enough to sustain a genuine title challenge.

Guardiola will know the importance of taking it each game as it comes as Manchester City find top form to push Arsenal all the way, having set up a Carabao Cup final date with the Gunners for March 22 at Wembley after seeing off Newcastle United with a 5-1 aggregate win over two semi-final legs.

City are fighting on four fronts in the remainder of the season and are yet to recall the likes of John Stones, Mateo Kovacic, Jeremy Doku, Savinho and Josko Gvardiol back from injury as they navigate a testing fixture schedule.

The January additions of Antoine Semenyo and Marc Guehi from Bournemouth and Crystal Palace for a combined £84 million has alleviated personnel and form concerns in attack and defence respectively, though the tide is slowly but surely starting to change at the Etihad Stadium.

Ruben Dias made his first start in five weeks on Wednesday night after an impressive second-half cameo in last week’s win at Anfield, having recovered from an injury he sustained in a 1-1 draw with Chelsea on January 4.

Haaland is also starting to rediscover his goalscoring form and after converting a monumental injury-time winning penalty at Anfield last week, the 25-year-old scored his 22nd goal of the Premier League campaign to give Manchester City a three goal cushion ahead of the interval against Fulham.

In typical Guardiola fashion, the Catalan was spotted delivering a tactical lecture to right-back Matheus Nunes after full-time at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday night.

When asked about the conversation in his post-match press conference, the City boss said: “Always I say to Matheus (Nunes), ‘Matheus you have an incredible pace going forward. Why you don’t go quite often?’ Kevin….Kevin? (laughs). Erling kept the ball and after that, the pace of Antoine (Semenyo) and Nico (O’Reilly) made the difference.”

Kevin De Bruyne left Manchester City at the end of his contract last summer, joining Napoli on a two-year contract and should the Belgian come across the clip, he would surely chuckle as it displays how Guardiola remembers and undoubtedly misses having the evergreen playmaker in his ranks in Manchester.