Manchester City’s Guardiola dismisses title speculation and calls for greater consistency

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola said focusing on title race speculation before every match does not help and he is fully focused on beating his next opponents.

City have been chasing Premier League leaders Arsenal in second place for months, and Sunday’s 2-1 win over Liverpool kept them within six points of the top of the table.

“Every time I go to the match for an interview in the last few weeks and months before the match, it’s always if you lose, you lose everything and you’re going to disappear from planet earth and all that,” Guardiola told reporters on Tuesday, a day before City hosted Fulham.

“So what I’m saying is: what do you have to do to beat Fulham?”

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City, seeking their seventh English top-flight title in Guardiola’s decade-long tenure, have won just two of their last seven league games, allowing Arsenal to move further ahead with four wins in the same period.

«The distance is not big, but given how Arsenal are doing, six points is a lot. The next game is against a team like Fulham, who are getting better and better every year, so we will see,» Guardiola said.

City had to dig deep to secure a 5-4 win over Fulham in December, and Guardiola praised the way the London side have improved under Marco Silva since winning promotion to the Premier League in 2022.

«The movements they do… they are really good. The patterns and the quality they have, the calmness of the game, the speed they have. Marco is one of the top managers I deal with. Destined to be one of the top ones for sure in a few years,» Guardiola said.

City must be more consistent, says Guardiola

Defensive midfielder John Stones, who has been sidelined since the trip to Fulham with a thigh injury, is back in the squad, Guardiola said, adding that defender Abdukodir Khusanov was also fit despite suffering concussion at Liverpool.

«I admit (Khusanov) doesn’t speak like William Shakespeare, but he’s getting better and better… he’s so intelligent. He always makes good decisions,» the manager said of the Uzbek international.

Guardiola said City needed to focus on improving consistency.

«We have done very good things. I have had that feeling for many, many months, but we are not consistent enough,» he added.

«It will happen if we do what we have to do. I want to earn the three points. I want us to play the way we have to play to stay there.»

Published on February 10, 2026