Manchester City 3-1 Leicester: Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola is happy that his formation managed to finish the home game against Leicester City unscathed. The Spaniard saw the visitors bite off in the final phase.
Guardiola is critical after City’s home win and is looking forward to the ‘final’ against Arsenal
City had been 3-0 up against Leicester for 25 minutes and looked set for a big win, but in the end Leicester kept the damage limited. Guardiola already decided at half-time to take Erling Haaland (two goals) and John Stones to the side. After that, Rodri and Kevin De Bruyne were also substituted in view of the upcoming Champions League meeting with Bayern Munich.
“We wanted to rest some players. But that made us lose control of the game,” Guardiola told the BBC after the game. “Still, it was a well deserved win. Our start was very convincing. But we must realize that a duel is not decided until the final whistle has sounded. Of course I was a little worried when Leicester scored. We had a hard time in the last twenty minutes.”
Premier League final
Guardiola recorded the tenth win in a row and knows that the gap with leader Arsenal is only three points. On April 26, City will receive the list leader in the Premier League. The Gunners play against West Ham United on Sunday afternoon. “Arsenal are having a great season so far and I don’t expect them to lose many points in the remaining games,” said the City manager.
“It’s our job to keep up until we play against them in the final. I think of it as a final because if you lose that game, it’s probably over and over. A month ago we already indicated that we had to get as close as possible to Arsenal for the head-to-head match. But we know it’s not going to be easy. We also have the quarter-finals in the Champions League and in the FA Cup ahead of us,” Pep Guardiola concludes. In the semi-final of the English Cup tournament, City will meet Sheffield United FC at Wembley.
