Pep Guardiola lauds Manchester City’s victory against Bournemouth as it helped them to reclaim the top spot in the Premier League table.
Despite dominating possessions, the defending champions had to wait till the 55th minute for the winner. Eddie Howe’s men kept their shape intact as City couldn’t find the target.
The pressure was on the Sky Blues as Liverpool are playing Everton on Sunday and could leapfrog Guardiola’s side if they manage a victory in the Merseyside derby. Given the closely fought games, it seems the title fight will go down to the wire and any mistake from any side would hand their opponent massive leverage.
Guardiola said, “It was incredible, maybe one of the best performances we have ever played in our time together.
“There were ten players behind in every movement, there was the second balls, the set-pieces, the throw-ins – everyone was focused to control all aspects of the football so it’s incredible. We played 25 games in 93 days, with one game every three or six days at that level, so it was incredible. I’m delighted, it is a joy and a pleasure to be part of this team.
“We didn’t concede one shot on target and at this type of a stadium, it is almost impossible with throw-ins and free kicks and they can always counter-attack with [Ryan] Fraser or they have fast players like [Josh] King
“We controlled them and we didn’t concede, we had a lot of plays with ten players in the box and really, the spaces are almost impossible, but we found them.
“We worked on that over three seasons and now we are starting to see good things, the commitment from everybody even in a tough moment when you have a lot of injured players, and everybody has made a step forward and that’s why, today, we had a winning goal.”
