With Man City now taking the lead in the Premier League title race with six games to play, Pep Guardiola has warned his side enjoy “dead or alive” battles.
Man City are now two points clear of Arsenal and Liverpool at the top of the table, after a dramatic weekend that saw both of their rivals lose.
Liverpool dropped three points to Crystal Palace at Anfield, before Arsenal endured the same fate at home to Aston Villa.
The Manchester club are undoubtedly favourites to lift the title now, with the expectation unfortunately being that they take wins from their final six games against Brighton, Nottingham Forest, Wolves, Fulham, Tottenham and West Ham.
While Mikel Arteta and Jurgen Klopp have both expressed their hope that the others slip up between now and May 19, Guardiola took a confident stance.
“They like to play the pressure. They like it when you are dead or alive,” he told reporters, including BBC Sport, after Saturday’s 5-1 win over Luton.
“That doesn’t mean we are going to do it but I am pretty sure we will be there until the end because I know them, I see their faces before in the meetings before games and how they prepare.
“That means we’ll be Premier League champions? No, no. I am not saying that. But we will compete, that is for sure.”
History suggests that, while the onus is on Man City at this stage, Liverpool fans could be putting themselves through torture watching their rivals hoping for dropped points.
As Guardiola says, his side are not already champions, but it should be noted that all of their remaining opponents in the league are in indifferent form at present.
While the Spaniard has spoken of Man City‘s resolve in these situations, Klopp made a concerning admission over Liverpool’s mentality after Sunday’s 1-0 loss to Crystal Palace.
“I’m not 100 percent sure that, in general, how we dealt with the United games particularly helped,” the manager told his post-match press conference.
“I mean, we lost the game in the cup and it was like a catastrophe because we were that good and lost it anyway. Then we draw there, were really good for a long spell and just drew it.”
Klopp added: “We all, players included, me included, obviously we expected a reaction and we saw a reaction, that we lost in that game more than only the game a little bit.
“So it didn’t help, you could just see. And on top of that, the game before, United where we lost points.”
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