Pep Guardiola acknowledges big opportunity missed in Man City’s draw at Southampton

LONDON – Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola said that dropping points against bottom-side Southampton in a 0-0 English Premier League draw on May 10 will result in a nervy final two games of the season, as his side chase a Champions League place for next season.

Southampton’s hard-earned point at home not only means they avoid being the joint-worst team in Premier League history but also a tougher finish for City, who must hold off the chasing pack of Newcastle United, Chelsea, Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest.

“The result, of course, it’s a missed opportunity today, we know that,” said Guardiola, who failed to beat a bottom team for the first time in his nine seasons at City.

“It happened. Now, prepare the (FA Cup) final, less time (for) Bournemouth and then Fulham,” he added, with City playing Crystal Palace in the FA Cup final on May 17 at Wembley.

“We have three games left – the FA Cup and two games in the Premier League and I didn’t expect anything different from one month ago in that we will need to fight until the end.”

City had won four straight league matches and were poised to move level on points with second-placed Arsenal but the momentum stalled at St Mary’s. They are now barely holding on to third place in the battle for a top-five finish.

While Southampton have conceded a Premier League-high 82 goals this season, they kept City out by defending in numbers, which drew criticism from Guardiola and defender Ruben Dias.

“It was difficult,” Guardiola said. “Eleven players on the penalty spot. I didn’t expect they would defend so, so deep. Defensively we were brilliant. But we missed the last actions that break the result.”

Dias echoed his manager’s view.

“It’s frustrating to play a team like that,” he said. “They didn’t want to play. Just wasting time the whole game.”

One positive was the return of Erling Haaland, who missed six weeks with injury. The Norwegian, who remains third in the league’s scoring chart with 21 goals, played until the end.

“We didn’t expect him to play 90,” Guardiola added. “But the way the game was going, we needed people in the box.”

Villa, meanwhile, breathed life into their Champions League hopes with a 1-0 victory over Bournemouth that lifted them to sixth, and just two points behind City (65).

Ollie Watkins flicked in a first-half winner, taking him ahead of Gabriel Agbonlahor as the club’s all-time scorer with 75 league goals.

Unai Emery’s team, who have suffered the crushing disappointment of defeats in the Champions League quarter-finals and FA Cup semi-finals in recent weeks, can still finish the season on a high.

“Of course we want to try to get our best dreams to play in Europe, in the Champions League again,” Emery told Sky Sports.

“But there are still matches to play, there are other teams in front of us but with this victory we can feel there are some possibilities to get it.” REUTERS, AFP