Manchester City Manager, Pep Guardiola has revealed that it will be difficult for his side to meet up with the premier league leader Chelsea in the race for the title.
City defeat Hull 3-0 on Boxing day to moved second place on the league table and seven points behind leader Chelsea. Chelsea, on the other hand, defeat Bournemouth with the same go margin and create a new club record of twelveth premier league wins
“We have played seven more than Chelsea, which is why it will be tough,” said Guardiola.
“Liverpool went so close to the title one year because they had one game a week and last year, for Leicester, it happened the same.
“This time Chelsea and Liverpool are the ones.” Liverpool and Chelsea did not to qualify for European competition after finishing 8th and 10th respectively in the Premier League last season.
Manchester City will play Monaco in the knockout stage of this year’s UEFA Champions League, with the first leg on 21 February.
Liverpool narrowly missed out on the 2013/14 Premier League title to Manchester City, without European football in that season while Leicester won last year’s title only playing without getting involved in any tournament.
Liverpool will move to second place on the table if they were able to beat Stoke City at Anfield on Tuesday.
“Sometimes you play before Chelsea, sometimes later – but it doesn’t matter when one team has won 12 in a row,” added Guardiola.
“It’s like a final for us if you want to be there until the end of the season.
“But football is unpredictable. We have to do absolutely everything to be there. Sometimes when you believe something is done it isn’t.
“What we have to do is win every game and analyse and see if that is enough.”