MAN CITY VS. NEWCASTLE: PEP GUARDIOLA CALLS IT A 'MUST-WIN'

Pep Guardiola plays down Man City's title talk despite the chance to go one point behind Arsenal with a win at Newcastle. He warns, "nothing is decided in November" as the busy schedule begins.

Man City vs. Newcastle: Pep Guardiola Calls It A 'Must-Win'
Guardiola Focuses On Tough Newcastle Clash

This Saturday, the Manchester City team will try to pass Arsenal to be the best team in the Premier League; winning against Newcastle might make them only one point behind.

Even though they might be able to move up, the team's leader, Pep Guardiola, really thinks it's too early to start thinking about winning the title.

City will get a chance to put some stress on the other team when they play at Newcastle's field, because Arsenal, who are in first place right now, won't play until they play Tottenham on Sunday.

The current champions have done really well against Newcastle in the past, winning 28 of the last 35 games they played, while only losing one.

Guardiola has been trying to keep people from getting too excited about how the points add up after his team won against Liverpool by a score of 3-0 when the international break started; many people thought this win was very important in the fight for the title.

Guardiola mentioned that we're only in November, and in this league, nothing is decided for sure in November.

He added that we should wait and see what happens around February or March. However, the season has now started, with the first part beginning in the summer when teams can buy and sell players. Then, it starts again when the international break ends.

He continued, noting that they will be playing games every three days until March, so the real season has now begun. He emphasised that it's really important to be in a good position and have the chance to compete at the end of the season. For them, he said, winning in Newcastle would be a big deal.

Star player Erling Haaland has scored 99 Premier League goals in just 108 games since he joined City in 2022, going into Saturday's game.

On the former England captain's home field, Haaland is close to beating Alan Shearer's record for the fastest player to score 100 goals, which is currently 124 games.

After scoring 16 goals in eight games, Haaland continued his great performance during the international break, scoring four more goals and helping Norway get into their first World Cup since 1998.

Guardiola stated that Haaland is doing great this season and is breaking all kinds of records, including those for Norway, the Premier League, and his own personal records. He stated that he and his national team have his respect.

He noticed that a lot of the players on Norway's team weren't even born when the country last played in the World Cup. He deserves to play in a World Cup and have that experience as a really good player. Guardiola is very happy for him.

Rodri, who plays in the middle for Spain, will still not be playing this weekend as he is still getting back in shape after a recent problem.

Since being taken out of the game against Brentford on October 5, the only time he has played is when he came in for a short time as a substitute against Bournemouth earlier this month.

Guardiola confirmed that Rodri is improving. He noted that the last time Rodri had a setback was almost three weeks ago. He knows that to stay healthy from now until the end, he needs to take the necessary time to get better both physically and mentally from his problems.

PEP GUARDIOLA REFUSES TO GUARANTEE RODRI’S RETURN FOR MONDAY’S PREMIER LEAGUE CLASH

Pep Guardiola provides the latest injury news on Rodri, Ruben Dias, and Josko Gvardiol ahead of a crucial title race clash at Everton.

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Rodri still absent from City training ahead of vital Everton trip - Photo Credit: Getty Images

Pep Guardiola has shared the latest on Manchester City's injury situation ahead of Monday’s Premier League match against Everton at the Hill Dickinson Stadium.

City is in good form right now. They came from behind to beat Southampton 2-1 in the FA Cup semi-final last weekend, making it six wins in a row across all competitions.

But they’ve had to do it without Rodri. He's missed their last two matches, including a tight 1-0 win at Burnley, after hurting his groin against Arsenal a couple of weeks back. Guardiola recently told reporters that Rodri is getting better, but the team’s been cautious and isn’t rushing him back.

At his latest press conference on Friday, Guardiola said Rodri still hasn’t returned to training, so they’re just taking it day by day. There's hope, but Guardiola wouldn’t give any guarantees about Rodri’s chances of playing against Everton. "He’s getting better. Still, he didn't train with us, so we’ll see in the next few days,” he said. When pressed about his confidence, Pep just replied, “I am always confident.”

With Rodri still not training, it sounds like a last-minute decision on whether he’ll play. A start against Everton seems unlikely. That probably means Nico González, who scored the winner against Southampton, will keep his spot in midfield next to Bernardo Silva. Maybe Nico O’Reilly slides into central midfield, too, if he isn’t covering at left-back.

It’s not all good news in defence either. Ruben Dias is still out with the ankle injury that’s kept him sidelined for the last six games, and Josko Gvardiol is recovering from the tibial fracture he picked up in January. Both are working their way back, and Guardiola says they’re improving, but there’s no sign of a return just yet.

Turning to the Everton game, City could head into it trailing Arsenal by six points if the Gunners beat Fulham on Saturday. With the title race this tight, City can’t afford to slip up.

Guardiola knows Monday will be tough. “Everton have always been tough,” he said. “Old Everton was so cool and so British, and I loved to go there, but in the new stadium, they are defending really well, and it has always been tough." He’s not taking recent Everton results lightly, adding, 'They're fighting for a place in Europe. We won with two or three actions here, but we were not good at that moment. We can’t have any result but win, win, win.”

Everton won’t be easy, especially away, but City can at least take confidence from their strong record of 17 league games unbeaten against the Toffees. They won the reverse fixture 2-0, with Haaland scoring both goals. Still, Guardiola isn’t expecting it to be straightforward.

MANCHESTER CITY’S REQUEST TO RESCHEDULE PIVOTAL PREMIER LEAGUE TIES BRUTALLY DENIED

The Premier League has rejected Man City’s plea to swap Palace and Bournemouth matches. See City's brutal end-of-season schedule.

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Pep Guardiola’s domestic treble hunt faces a major hurdle after league fixture refusal - Photo Credit: AFP via Getty Images

Manchester City are on the hunt for another domestic treble just seven years after the last one. Pep Guardiola pulled it off in 2018/19 with wins in the Premier League, FA Cup, and Carabao Cup. Now he's got his sights set on doing it again.

City’s deep run in the cups has created a mess for their league schedule. Their home game against Crystal Palace, which was supposed to happen during the Carabao Cup final weekend on March 22, got bumped. Same thing with their trip to Bournemouth, originally set for the day after the FA Cup final.

There’s a hold-up with rescheduling Palace; the Eagles’ Conference League semi-final run means they’ve got barely any free midweek dates. The match was pencilled in for Wednesday, May 13, but things got complicated when City reached the FA Cup Final, and Bournemouth got postponed too. The city asked the Premier League if they could play Bournemouth on Tuesday, May 12, then face Palace a week later, to squeeze in an extra recovery day before the Wembley showdown. Plus, that would give them the bonus of finishing their last two league games at home. But the Premier League usually insists that the fixture that was originally scheduled first in this case, Palace, gets played first.

According to The Mirror, City’s request was shot down. So now Guardiola’s team has to cram their last four matches into just 12 days: Palace visits on May 13, then the FA Cup Final, Bournemouth away on May 19, and finally wrapping things up at home to Aston Villa on May 24.

They couldn't play Bournemouth on May 20 because that’s the Europa League final night, and UEFA didn’t want any Premier League games stealing the spotlight when Aston Villa or Nottingham Forest could be involved.

The Mirror says the revised fixture dates and kick-off times are coming out today. Chelsea, also FA Cup finalists, will play their rescheduled match against Tottenham on May 19.

City still has to travel to Everton next Monday and host Brentford on Saturday, May 9. Then comes their jam-packed finish, starting with Palace.

Meanwhile, title rivals Arsenal will be hoping City’s crowded schedule works in their favour. Though Arsenal has its own challenge, a Champions League semi-final against Atletico Madrid is spread across the next two midweeks.

Arsenal closes out its league campaign with home games against Fulham and Burnley and trips to West Ham and Palace.

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