Football

Manchester City: Pep Guardiola tells players to enjoy ‘privilege’ of chasing quadruple



Pep Guardiola has called for his Manchester City players to enjoy the ‘privileged’ position they find themselves in as they fight for an unprecedented English football quadruple.

City return to Premier League action for the first time in three weeks on Saturday when they travel to relegation-threatened Fulham.

The defending champions hope to climb back above leaders Liverpool, who have played one game more than them and face Tottenham Hotspur at Anfield on Sunday.

City are also preparing to face Tottenham in a Champions League quarter-final next month, while they play Brighton and Hove Albion in the FA Cup semi-finals next weekend.

The League Cup is already in the bag but no English club has succeeded on all major domestic and European fronts in a single season before.

Very few sides, meanwhile, have progressed this far into the campaign with hopes of winning all four trophies in tact. 

Chelsea reached as far as 1 May in 2007 and Manchester United’s hopes ended on 19 April ten years ago.

“It is what it is, it’s perfect,” Guardiola said, when considering where his City side find themselves on the final weekend of March. 

Manchester City’s Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Jesus celebrate with manager Pep Guardiola (Reuters)

“It’s nice to live that. We spoke about that with the team. We are privileged to be in all the competitions almost at the beginning of April and to fight for the title. 

“It’s an incredible experience. I don’t know how many teams in Premier League history have been in this position fighting for four titles. 

“We are and it’s nice and it’s good. I think they are fresh mentally and in the legs and we are going to try.”

Since their last defeat – a 2-1 reverse at Newcastle United on 29 January – City have won every game in all competitions, though their League Cup final victory over Chelsea came on penalties after a goalless draw.

A congested schedule over the next six weeks is likely to test Guardiola’s side to the limit though and he is keen to find out how they respond to their next setback, if it arrives.

“I’m always a bit curious how we are going to react if we drop points or drop one competition, to keep going if we are disappointed. 

“It’s happened just once for the treble with Sir Alex Ferguson and United, nobody has won four. We cannot demand ourselves to do it. 

“I said don’t put pressure on to win the four titles, forget about it. It’s Fulham, we try to win and see how it is. 

“If we get a bad game or a bad result and lose then how do we react? That’s what I’m curious about. Just in case it happens.”

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