“Beat Liverpool 4-0!” – Guardiola Begs Southampton As Title Race Heats Up

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has pleaded with Southampton to defeat Liverpool after his side dropped points against West Ham on Sunday.

Guardiola’s side needed a spirited comeback from two goals down to secure a 2-2 draw at the London Stadium, effectively blowing open the title race.

West Ham shocked the league leaders as they took a first-half lead courtesy of a Jarrod Bowen brace. However, City rallied in the second half, with goals from Jack Grealish and Vladimir Coufal’s own goal levelling things up.

City forward Riyad Mahrez had the chance to put his side ahead in the closing stages of the match via a spot-kick but the Algerian’s effort was saved by Lukasz Fabianski.

Speaking to Sky Sports about the match, Guardiola lauded his team’s spirit and admitted he expected a tough game given the quality of the opposition.

“Great comeback,” he said. “And a comeback against this team in this stadium with the way they defend and how strong they are was an incredible credit to the team.

“We played a really good game. We spoke at half-time and said if we score one goal, we’ll be in the game, don’t give up. Fortunately, we scored early in the second half.

“One more week, one more game, with our people at home. I assure you something: it will be sold out in the Etihad Stadium and we’ll do the best performance possible to win the game and win the title.

“It would have been perfect to win today but West Ham is fighting for Europa League and have made an incredible season. It’s in our hands, that’s good.

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“It will not be easy, there will be a lot of emotions. We have to train calm and arrive fresh. We have one week. Some days to recover. And we will do everything in that game to win the title.”

City now have a game left compared to Liverpool who have two games. If Liverpool win their next game, they will cut City’s lead to just a point going into the final fixture. However, if they lose, City will be crowned Champions.

When asked if he had a message for Southampton who are the opponents Liverpool will face next, Guardiola replied: “I would say, beat Liverpool four-zero!

“The big, big privilege we have is that, at home, it’s in our hands. We don’t have to look at anything else other than ourselves. We just have to give everything.

“I said [to the players], ‘Don’t be sad today because we gave a really good performance. It’s fair, against this opponent, to arrive at the last day to decide who gets the title because both teams are so good’.”

Guardiola also didn’t think it was fair to blame Mahrez for the result even though he could have won the game for his team if he had converted his penalty.

“This season Riyad was extraordinary,” he said. “We scored a lot of penalties. This season we were good on the penalties. He took responsibility, he missed it. Next game he’s going to score.”

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