Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has challenged the current media narrative that the Premier League title race is a two horse race between his side and league leaders Liverpool. Guardiola met the media today ahead of tomorrow night’s league fixture at Everton, and he was asked about Tottenham Hotspur’s title prospects.
“That’s a question for yourself,” Guardiola answered. “I never said Tottenham is not [in the race], I never made an opinion about that. I never said Tottenham was not there. Or Chelsea.”
“United is now making this run every single week and they will be there to fight for the Premier League. Chelsea can win games in a row and be a contender too, everybody’s there, the gap is not too big.
“There are 39 points to play and nine or 10 behind it’s not too much. Seeing what happens now, everyone is ready to take points.”
So Guardiola sees the chase of the title has a field with five contenders, not two like everyone else seems to think. He is absolutely right when he says there are a ton of points, and hence plenty of ground to potentially make up, in the rest of the season. Everyone still has 13 games left to play, and his side are just three points behind Liverpool, with Tottenham just two points adrift of City in third place.
However, we have to politely disagree with the City boss’s assertion about the other two sides. There’s a big drop-off to fourth place Chelsea, who are 12 points off the pace for the top of the table. Manchester United are 14 adrift of first place.
There is simply just not enough time and space for the fourth and fifth place sides to traverse a gap that large.
Manchester City at Everton FYIs
Kickoff: Wednesday, February 6, 8PM local, Goodison Park
Google Result Probability: Manchester City win 71%, Draw 18%, Everton win 11%
Injury Report for both teams: go to this link
Odds via Odds Checker: City win 7/19, Draw 79/17, Everton win 9/1
City Starting XI Prediction: go to this link
Prediction: Manchester City 4, Everton 1
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, regularly appears as a guest pundit on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
He also contributes sociopolitical essays to Chicago Now. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram. The content of his cat’s Instagram account is unquestionably superior to his.