Pep Guardiola insists the race for the Premier League title is not over yet, but admits his team lacks the stability, creativity and goalscoring goal of Erling Haaland.
City are currently nine points behind Premier League leaders Arsenal with a game in hand, but Saturday night’s 1-1 draw with West Ham was a big boost to the Gunners’ dreams of ending their title wait.
On Friday, Guardiola said the race would be over if City dropped points. After the game at the London Stadium, he disputed that, but struck a conciliatory tone, pointing to issues likely to prevent his side from extending the epic winning streak they need to turn things around with eight games remaining.
“No, it’s not over yet,” he told TNT Sports. “We are not defeated. We will continue.”
He said in a press conference that the team has performed better than expected this season after finishing third last year, but said the team still has a lot to develop. “We have grown a lot since our beginnings, but this does not mean we are done with business.”
He believes the lack of consistency is a key issue. Guardiola was all smiles last weekend after his side beat Newcastle in the FA Cup at St James’ Park in what he called their best ever performance. However, after that, they lost 3-0 against Real Madrid and drew against West Ham, meaning their Champions League and Premier League chances disappeared.
On top of that, Guardiola said he didn’t score enough goals. Indeed, City are second in the Premier League, one point behind Arsenal, but their performance at West Ham highlighted the challenge of finding enough goals to clear the low blocks and prevent opponents from taking points.
The Hammers scored on their only shot of the game. In their last Premier League match, Nottingham Forest drew with the Etihad, hitting two of their four shots on target.
“Ultimately we need creativity, but we have struggled this season,” Guardiola said. “We had to be better in the final third and we weren’t able to do that. The same thing happened in many games this season.”
However, the biggest problem in City’s attack right now is undoubtedly Haaland’s form.
Erling Haaland failed to score for West Ham
Last week’s impressive win against Newcastle came as Haaland went down by knockout. He couldn’t get a shot off at the Bernabéu, but he showed frustration in East London.
He has scored 19 goals in the first 17 Premier League games this season. He has made just three of his last 12 games.
Haaland remains the Premier League’s top scorer, but his goals have dried up at this crucial stage of the season.
“Of course we miss him because there were no goals,” Guardiola said.
“I always believe it’s a connection and a lot of things create good interactions. But Erling, we need his goals.
“We need to create more. He had three chances (in the first half). Sometimes you have to create threats that we didn’t have.”
“He will come back.”
Guardiola may not have publicly given up on this challenge for the Premier League, but while Haaland and City could re-up their previous best record, the current situation looks like time is running out for a reversal in the title race.
