Guardiola says he is ‘more relaxed than ever’ ahead of chance for Man City to go top | OneFootball

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has insisted that his side are “more relaxed than ever” ahead of his side’s opportunity to move top of the Premier League.

City defeated Arsenal 2-1 at the weekend and a victory over Burnley on Wednesday night would see them overtake the league leaders on goal difference.

“No, absolutely not,” Guardiola answered on whether he was feeling any nerves. “Nervous was last season. Pressure was last season. I could bring, as a manager, the team not into the Champions League.

“Now we’re more relaxed than ever, even before Arsenal. The feeling is that we have done a really, really good season. Now is the moment to enjoy more than ever.

“That’s why I’m a manager, to live these moments.”

Asked about transferring his calmness to his players, the Catalan continued: “They see me. My face speaks for itself perfectly.

“Sometimes I don’t need to talk when they see my eyes and my face. They know it, and they know me quite good.”

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With City potentially set to move level on points with Arsenal with just five games remaining, the title race could be decided by goal difference. The Gunners’ goal difference is currently superior by one goal.

On the prospect of chasing goals, City’s boss admitted:  “Yes, absolutely. It can happen, but you cannot be distracted by the fact you’re trying to score a lot of goals. We’ll be unbalanced, and when we’re unbalanced, we’re going to concede a lot of goals.

“So we have to try to go there, do what we have to do to win the game. It’s the same as before Arsenal. The game will dictate if we’re going to score goals or not.

“If you tell me, ‘listen, if you play seven strikers, you are going to score 20 goals’. Okay, I’m going to play with seven strikers, but that doesn’t work.”

Guardiola has already lifted six Premier League titles, but offered lofty praise to his current squad.

“I see the spirit, how they train, how they behave,” he insisted. “It’s one of the best groups of football players, and the spirit that I’ve ever seen in my career. So that just made me so proud, so happy.

“When I’m in the sideline and see how Arsenal are playing, I give incredible credit that we beat them. It’s a top team, it’s a contender to win the Champions League, it’s the top of the league. And I see that game there, you have to sweat, you have to fight a lot to beat them, because they have everything.

“When they celebrate it, even though people can say whatever stupid things they want to say, we celebrate because we know the value of the opponent. We know if we don’t win, we are out, bye-bye.”

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