Pep Guardiola warns Man City players not to think about the Premier League title
Monday 1 January 2018 22:29, UK
Pep Guardiola has urged his Manchester City players not to think about winning the title as it will distract them from their performances.
City's 18-match winning streak in the Premier League came to an end on Sunday after being held to a goalless draw by Crystal Palace.
City also suffered a double injury blow, with Guardiola confirming that Gabriel Jesus will be out for up to two months following an injury in the first half, while Kevin De Bruyne was stretchered off with a leg injury in second-half stoppage time.
Guardiola's side are 14 points clear of Chelsea in second, but can extend that advantage when they host Watford on Tuesday, with Chelsea travelling to Arsenal on Wednesday, live on Sky Sports.
Despite being frustrated by Palace, who missed the chance to ruin the visitors' unbeaten season after Luka Milivojevic's stoppage-time penalty was saved, City are still overwhelming favourites to win the league but Guardiola has warned his players that focusing on the future would be a mistake.
He said: "Of course, we are in a good position and I have said to my players many times: 'don't think about winning the title, focus on the next game'.
"If you think about far away we are going to distract what we have to do today and that will be a big mistake.
"In football, everything can happen. We can get a lot of wins in a row, we can stay a lot of games without winning.
"That has happened in the past with many other teams.
"We just have to focus on what we have to do and correct our mistakes from today and keep going.
"I have the same feeling that before I came here and now when we dropped two points.
"I have a lot of experience with that. When you see the fixtures, the stages you have to go and the five big contenders.
"Games like here, Stoke City and Burnley. A lot of games to play.
"There will be still a lot of things to do."
