Pep Guardiola sends title race warning to Manchester City squad after miserable run of form | OneFootball

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has given his squad a crucial reminder of what lies at stake ahead of Sunday’s Manchester derby.

City have lost their last two league games against Tottenham and Brighton, leaving them in 13th place in the Premier League table ahead of a tricky trio of games against Manchester United, Napoli and Arsenal in the next seven days.

After enduring their most underwhelming season under Guardiola, City have undergone a major squad revamp in the summer transfer window, with recently-appointed director of football Hugo Viana orchestrating a change of guard at the Etihad Stadium.

Kevin De Bruyne, Ederson, Ilkay Gundogan, Kyle Walker and James McAtee have all left permanently, with City also sanctioning season-long loans for Jack Grealish (Everton) and Manuel Akanji (Inter Milan) to streamline Guardiola’s squad and trim the wage bill.

Manchester City’s unparalleled domination of English football over the years finally caught up with the squad last term as injuries across the pitch and several key players suffering a downturn in form culminated in a third-place Premier League finish with 71 points.

City entered the January transfer market and spent £181.5 million to sign Abdukodir Khusanov, Vitor Reis, Nico Gonzalez and Omar Marmoush amidst a dire personnel crisis for Guardiola, whose long-held stance of working with a slim squad came back to haunt him in the midst of his most challenging season as Manchester City manager.

However, City made it to the other side with a respectable third-place Premier League finish and more importantly, a spot in the 2025-26 UEFA Champions League campaign was ensured to help the club’s recruitment in the summer.

Having lost their previous two league games against Tottenham and Brighton, Manchester City cannot afford to lose further ground on title rivals Liverpool and Arsenal as they begin a tricky run of fixtures on Sunday against Manchester United.

“I’m happy to finish as champion of the Premier League. That is what I like. And to do it, you have to beat United, yes,” said Guardiola in a press conference on Friday afternoon, stressing on the importance of these big-six games in the overall scheme of things.

“But sometimes we don’t win (against Manchester United) and we won it (the league title). Honestly I don’t have much (of a) personal (rivalry against Manchester United). Of course it’s important because it’s special, but it’s just trying to be focused on what we have to do, the emotions, have the emotions but not enough, and do what you have to do.

“I think that is the most, it doesn’t matter. At the end, it’s how far you are, you qualify for the Champions League, you fight for the titles, you are in the final in the FA Cup and this kind of stuff. United is United, going good or bad, always they have good players, just see how (much) they are spending in the last decade.

“But what happened, I don’t know. I didn’t speak with their owners or the CEOs or United to know exactly the reality of what happened.”