Pep Guardiola takes aim at the Premier League over Manchester City fixtures | OneFootball

Man City Fixture Crunch Tests Guardiola’s Pursuit of Glory

Guardiola Takes Aim at Premier League Schedule

Pep Guardiola has rarely hidden the competitive fire that drives Man City, and his latest remarks carried the familiar edge of a manager battling on every front. With Manchester City still chasing Arsenal in the Premier League and preparing for an FA Cup final against Chelsea, the calendar has tightened at precisely the wrong moment.

City host Crystal Palace on Wednesday, then head to Wembley to face Chelsea, before finishing their league campaign against Bournemouth and Aston Villa. For Guardiola, the frustration is clear, even if he accepts that such pressure comes with success.

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He said: “We don’t think about the ‘generosity’ of the Premier League. As always they have been really nice for this schedule!

“But it is what it is. We accept. I always said, if you don’t play the final of the FA Cup, you will not have this schedule. So we are in the final, you have this schedule.

“And I would love to have the schedule (of being) in the Champions League semi-final in the middle of the title race.

“When we won the treble or quadruple we were there in that dynamic. So it’s really nice.”

Man City Chase Arsenal Under Pressure

Man City trail Arsenal by five points, with three league matches left to Arsenal’s two. That leaves Guardiola’s side needing perfection, plus a slip from the Gunners. It is a familiar late-season battlefield for City, where margins shrink and every team selection becomes a statement of intent.

The FA Cup final adds prestige, but also strain. For Guardiola, however, there is no appetite for picking and choosing.

Winning Culture Remains Non Negotiable

He said: “The competitions, knockout stages, it’s like life or death – it’s nice. It’s like now at the end of the (league) season.

“I’ve tried with my staff since I arrived 10 years ago, to make this club, (from) when you play the first game in the pre-season, in Asia or America or wherever, think we have to win.

“We have to try to win, not choose competitions, games, anything. We have to, all of us, inoculate in our bodies that we have to do our best every game for respect of our people, respect for the job.

“All of us are incredibly well paid – we have to do it.”

That is Guardiola’s Man City creed, expectation, responsibility and relentless pursuit, whatever the fixture list demands.