Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola remains confident his side will qualify for the Champions League this season – but knows they face a tough challenge from Newcastle United, Chelsea and Aston Villa.
And the Spaniard is acutely aware that Eddie Howe’s side could hold the upper hand when it comes to finishing in the top five of the Premier League. City are finding form after a below-par season, but Guardiola is targetting Champions League qualification and FA Cup success in the final weeks of the campaign.
City sit in sixth place ahead of today’s Premier League clash with Crystal Palace, one point behind Newcastle and Chelsea. However, the Magpies have a game in hand over their rivals – which they play against Palace on Wednesday night – and have no other distractions in the run-in.
Aston Villa are still involved in the Champions League, although must overcome a 3-1 first-leg defecit against PSG, whiile Chelsea look set to continue their Europa Conference League campaign after recording a 3-0 win over Legia Warsaw last Thursday. City have an FA Cup semi-final against Nottingham Forest on the horizon, while Newcastle can focus fully on the Premier League.
“Now it’s not very complicated,” Guardiola said. “We don’t have 15, 20 games. Now we have seven games left.
“It’s a final every single game. We have to win a lot of games to qualify because Newcastle, with just one game a week, and the quality of Aston Villa, with all the teams that are involved – Chelsea, Nottingham (Forest), Fulham are there. There are a lot of teams that will be there and you have to win games.”
He remains confident his side will get the job done, although has to deal with more injury issues after a season of problems in that regard. However, he has seen plenty of ‘spirit’ from his side to encourage him.
“I’m optimistic to finish well this season. Some spirit is back,” he said. “Some games, some moments were good – United no – but the spirit is there. The spirit will sustain us.
“Maybe we struggle in a game but the spirit has to be there. We saw with incredible curiosity the Champions League games this week and I know the spirit with which they play. That’s what we need to do.”
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