Manchester City's Pep Guardiola Urges Team to Avoid Complacency Following Fulham Victory

Manchester City received a cautionary message from Pep Guardiola to avoid becoming complacent, despite pushing Arsenal off the top of the Premier League with a nerve-wracking 2-1 victory against Fulham. City went ahead of Arsenal by a single point thanks to goals from Erling Haaland and Julián Álvarez, but were under immense pressure in the second half at Craven Cottage. Guardiola was concerned that his team would struggle with fatigue due to a tough string of games, making the win all the more impressive.

The manager stated that the key message for the team was to remain focused. Arsenal still have a chance to go back to the top on Tuesday against Chelsea, but their prospects are looking increasingly difficult. City already have a game in hand against Arsenal and are set to host West Ham on Wednesday.

“I think that our opponent is not going to drop many points,” said Guardiola. “That is our best mentality, to be humble enough to accept that every game – especially away – will be similar to today. The bar will be on Wednesday. Arsenal have a game on Tuesday, and we play on Wednesday. Now it’s one game in hand, and on Tuesday we will have two games in hand."

Haaland’s penalty saw him become the first top-flight player since 1931 to score 50 goals in all competitions in a single season. He also equalled the record set by Andy Cole and Alan Shearer of scoring 34 league goals in a season.

Guardiola praised Álvarez, who came in for the injured Kevin De Bruyne, stating that the midfielder constantly provided immense support for the team every time he played.

Fulham manager Marco Silva was content with his team’s performance, but expressed concern over the injuries of Tim Ream and Andreas Pereira during the match. Ream suffered a broken arm when he was caught by Álvarez, and his season may be over. Fulham was already without the services of Aleksandar Mitrovic, who was serving a suspension, along with the injured Willian.