Pep Guardiola spoke to the press on Friday afternoon ahead of Manchester City’s upcoming FA Cup clash.
Manchester City will face off with Southampton at St Marys’ in a quarter-final tie at 3 pm on Sunday.
Ahead of the game, Pep Guardiola discussed a number of topics in his presser, including the title race.
Liverpool are now only one point behind City, with Pep having this to say on the race: “I couldn’t say I couldn’t expect it. We drop points lately, but we play to win the games.
“Against Tottenham we played to not lose but the way we defend the last action we deserved to. It is what it is. 14, 15 days, we come back after the international break, 9 games. Everyone knows what we do, marvellous challenge. We try to do it.”
The last game City dropped points in was vs Crystal Palace on Monday. They drew 0-0 with the Eagles despite dominating. Would the result have been different with a proper no.9?
Pep was asked about the need for a new striker ahead of Southampton and had this to say: “Since I’m here, every month we are going to sign 50 players. Right now, it’s impossible I’m going to talk about some guys who aren’t here. Haaland is a Dortmund player.
“You can ask for this player or another one. The transfer window is going to start and many things will happen. Maybe I speak about this club needs a striker for the next 5, 6, 7 years maybe once in 12 months. I’m not going to be the guy with the success because we didn’t have a striker.
“It’s important that if you play good, seven or eight players arrive in the box. This is the best way. Right now we are ahead to try and go Wembley for the semi-finals, in the last eight in Europe, and top of the Premier League. What we have done so far is great. We play this game, pray the players come back from the national team no injuries. We’ve fought a lot to be there.”
Southampton vs Manchester City
Manchester City would beat Swindon Town, Fulham and Peterborough in this season’s competition to reach the final.
And whilst Southampton are their toughest test of the campaign so far, a City win still seems very likely this weekend.
Southampton have a fairly woeful record against the Sky Blues. The Saints have only won one of the last 13 meetings between the two sides, which was a 1-0 win the Premier League back in 2020.
However, it is also worth mentioning that Southampton have managed to hold City to a draw in their last two meetings.
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