“My face speaks for himself” – Pep Guardiola says he is ‘more relaxed than ever’ amid Arsenal title race battle | OneFootball

Pep Guardiola has revealed he is more relaxed heading into the final weeks of the Premier League season than at any point in recent memory, insisting the contrast with last season’s anxiety could not be more stark.

City head into Wednesday’s trip to Burnley three points behind Arsenal at the top of the table with a game in hand, having won each of their last four games in all competitions – including Sunday’s pivotal 2-1 victory over Arsenal at the Etihad Stadium.

The 2024-25 season represented one of the most difficult of Guardiola’s managerial career and the weight of that experience, it seems, has given the 55-year-old an entirely different perspective on the pressures of a title run-in.

Guardiola: We are more relaxed than ever

Ahead of Manchester City‘s trip to Burnley in midweek, Guardiola was asked whether he still gets nervous in the final weeks of a season

“No. Absolutely the opposite,” the Catalan said. “Nervous was last season. Pressure, last season. I could bring, as a manager, the team not in the Champions League. Now we’re more relaxed than ever, even before Arsenal.

“The feeling that we have done a really, really good season. Now is the moment to enjoy more than ever, knowing that we have, and every game is the message, it’s so clear. It’s not even a message. They know it! It’s completely the opposite.

“Last season, in Fulham away, the night before was tough, because qualifying for the Champions League is so important for the club. Now we have done it.

“We have the Carabao Cup, semi-final in a few days against Southampton in Wembley, and try to fight to win the Premier League. So that’s good, really, really good. That’s why I’m a manager, to live these moments.”

The reference to last season’s night before Fulham is a rare glimpse of vulnerability from Guardiola, a candid admission of just how much the threat of missing the UEFA Champions League weighed on him personally.

That the current moment, by contrast, feels like one to be savoured rather than endured speaks volumes about how far City have come in the space of twelve months.

My face speaks for itself, sayd Guardiola

On whether it is his responsibility to project calm to his players, Guardiola offered one of the more disarmingly simple answers of his press conference tenure.

“They see me. My face speaks for itself perfectly,” the Manchester City manager added. “I don’t need sometimes to talk when they see my eyes in my face. They know it and they know me, quite good.”

It is the kind of answer that reveals something deeper about the environment Guardiola has built at the Etihad Stadium, a dressing room in which the manager’s body language carries as much authority as any team talk. After nine years together, the relationship between the 55-year-old and his players is evidently one built on something beyond words.

With an FA Cup semi-final tie against Southampton at Wembley on the horizon and the title race alive to the final day, Guardiola is clearly determined to enjoy every remaining minute of what is shaping up to be one of the most memorable seasons of his remarkable career.