Pep Guardiola focused solely on Fulham ahead of biggest game of the season ‘by far’

LONDON – Pep Guardiola said he will not check the scores of other games on May 25 while Manchester City play at Fulham, with a spot in the Champions League on the line in what he called by far the biggest game of their season.

All teams kick off at the same time on the English Premier League’s final day of this campaign, with City, Newcastle United, Chelsea, Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest all

battling for a top-five finish

and a place in Europe’s top club competition next season.

Guardiola’s men are in pole position among the teams as they sit third in the table on 68 points, realistically needing only a point from the Fulham clash, unless Villa were to beat Manchester United by at least 17 goals.

“You have to look at ourselves, we need one point to go into the Champions League next season, and you have to go to win against a top side,” he said.

When asked if it was their most important match this term, he replied: “By far. We have to deal like a (normal) game, prepare well. But of course, it’s really important, first because it’s an exceptional team. It will be a really tough game. Top side.”

While Rodri played for the first time in eight months on May 20, coming on to a standing ovation in their 3-1 win over Bournemouth, the midfielder and 2024 Ballon d’Or winner who had been out since suffering a knee injury in September is not ready to start.

“We’re really pleased he’s back, but it is a long way still to be what Rodri was, and my guess is it will be next season,” Guardiola said.

“Because the experience in this kind of surgery is always you have to be careful, otherwise you have muscular problems and this kind of stuff. But this is the first step, for his mind, for his knee, but still is not (ready) to see Rodri the way we know him.”

John Stones remains unavailable due to injury, while Mateo Kovacic is suspended after being sent off against Bournemouth.

Phil Foden was not named in England coach Thomas Tuchel’s squad for a pair of upcoming games, after requesting to be omitted. The attacker said this week he was nursing an ankle injury.

Guardiola insisted he was not responsible for Foden’s exclusion.

“It’s true that a long time he’s been struggling with his ankle but I haven’t spoken to Thomas,” he said.

“(Foden) needs rest and then he will come back. I want to help him. I don’t care about his performance, I just want him to feel good because then the rest will come in an easy way.”

When it comes to the topic of players, the City boss also revealed that the club hierarchy supports his desire to slash his underachieving squad next season, regardless of their last-day bid to qualify for the Champions League.

Guardiola is convinced he must work with a smaller group next season. Speaking after the win against Bournemouth, he threatened to quit if he was unable to reduce his squad because it was “impossible for my soul” to make so many players unhappy by leaving them out.

“I’m not going to quit. But the expression is the same, I don’t want players at home with their families when the team is playing,” he said in his latest comments.

“In the last three weeks, we had four, five or six players at home – that is not healthy for any of us, for them especially, for me and the club. The club knows it and agrees with me. We will find a solution. Everyone has to have the chance to compete.”

Fulham manager Marco Silva, meanwhile, summed up his 10th-placed team’s season in a positive light.

“We reached 54 points for our football club, and we are going to fight and to enjoy the game. To embrace the challenge with our fans of playing the last game of the season against a top side,” he said.

“They have certain characteristics that it’s not easy to play against. One of them is, of course, they have the capacity to take the ball from you.

“For longer periods they have the ball, and you have to be resilient and show the right organisation to control them well in some moments.” REUTERS, AFP