Guardiola: "City won't be psyched out by Liverpool"
Pep Guardiola discussed Manchester City's title tussle with Premier League rivals Liverpool following their FA Cup semi-final success.
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola insisted his quadruple-chasing team will not be psyched out by Liverpool in the race for the Premier League. City, who have already won the EFL Carabao Cup, reached the FA Cup final after edging Brighton and Hove Albion 1-0 at Wembley on Saturday as their quest for four trophies this season stayed alive.
City through to the FA Cup final
Guardiola's City are second in the Premier League, two points behind Liverpool but with a game in hand after the Reds claimed a late 3-1 win over Southampton on Friday. Asked the psychological impact on his players as Liverpool pull out results, Guardiola replied: "Zero. I think maybe for them it is better; but for us, zero. I know Liverpool is going to win all of their games. What happened is what happened. So to be champions we have to win all the games."
While juggling their bid for back-to-back Premier League titles, City are preparing to face Tottenham in the Champions League quarter-finals. City are also set to meet either Wolves or Watford in the FA Cup final next month and Guardiola added: "Do you believe we can play 60 games in a season and win 5-0 and have a good performance in every game? Which team can do that? Even the teams for trebles in other countries. I don't remember, I didn't see, but I think when Sir Alex Ferguson won the treble [with Manchester United in 1998-99], in that case not all the games were fantastic and winning four or five zero. Normally the semi-finals, final, are games like this. You can analyse how many chances we create, but people expect from how good we are that we have to score I don't know how many goals. In this game, in this job, it doesn't work in that way."