Manchester City must ‘put pressure’ on Arsenal in English Premier League title race

LONDON – Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola may have missed the pre-match press conference on Jan 30, but there is no doubt that he has been busy doing the calculations for the English Premier League title race with Arsenal.

Second-placed City are level on 46 points with third-placed Aston Villa, four behind the Gunners as they prepare for their Premier League clash against Tottenham Hotspur on Feb 1.

Arsenal are on a three-match winless run in the league, and the title race could be thrown wide open, should Mikel Arteta’s men fail to beat Leeds United on Jan 31.

If that happens, which is possible considering the Gunners’ recent form, City will hope to take advantage, but they also know that their sole focus is to beat Spurs regardless of the result at Elland Road.

Pep Lijnders, on media duty on Jan 30 in place of Guardiola, who was absent due to a “personal matter”, said of the title race: “You have to put pressure, you have to go behind them and they have to feel us. Hopefully, we can put pressure.

“It’s about us. I’ve been in a few title races. It’s always about winning your next games.”

The former Liverpool assistant added: “With Liverpool (under Jurgen Klopp), we had 92 points, 97 points and we didn’t win it (the Premier League) against Man City.

“So we have to make sure we go for the maximum points. We know that we cannot lose a lot of games more.”

Guardiola is expected to take training on Jan 31.

City have been buoyed by the January additions of Antoine Semenyo and Marc Guehi, while Oscar Bobb left for Fulham on Jan 30.

Star striker Erling Haaland also finally ended his goal drought on Jan 28, with his first from open play since Dec 20 as City beat Turkish side Galatasaray 2-0 in the Champions League.

Tottenham, who have not won a league game since beating Crystal Palace 1-0 on Dec 28, are languishing in 14th place, putting their manager Thomas Frank under continued pressure.

There are many reasons City are the favourites in this fixture.

They have won their last two away league games against Spurs with a 3-0 aggregate score, proving that they are capable of not faltering amid what is expected to be hostile crowd at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Spurs are also winless in five Premier League matches, drawing three and losing two. Crucially, they have struggled at home this season with six defeats in 11 league matches.

In contrast, City have been impressive in their away games, clinching 10 victories in their 18 matches on the road in all competitions. However, Lijnders warned against complacency.

“The Premier League is insane at the moment; the aggression of all the teams, the quality up front of all the teams. We know each team can create upsets,” he added.

On the injury front, winger Jeremy Doku will miss the clash following his injury in midweek and will be sidelined for two to three weeks.

Tottenham beat City 2-0 in the reverse fixture in August and do have reason to be optimistic.

But which Spurs side will turn up – the struggling Premier League version or the impressive Champions League class?

Frank’s team are enduring a miserable domestic campaign – with just two wins in their past 14 matches.

But it is a different story in Europe – a 2-0 midweek win at Eintracht Frankfurt sealed a fourth-placed finish out of 36 teams in the Champions League group phase and a spot in the last 16.

Frank, who has been booed by Spurs fans in recent weeks, will be painfully aware that winning the Europa League last season was not enough to save predecessor Ange Postecoglou.

But the club’s Champions League form may at least buy the Dane some time.

Only Premier League basement side Wolverhampton Wanderers have a worse home record than Spurs – who have mustered just two wins at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Spurs supporters are running out of patience, regardless of European distractions. REUTERS, AFP