Man City 3-0 Fulham: Pep Guardiola’s team is close to leaders Arsenal

The celebrations among a group of City players throughout to keep a clean sheet summed up the teamwork that had been formed and the character they could show.

The result at Anfield appears to have given City and Guardiola renewed belief that they can chase down Arsenal, despite not being at their best this season.

City have the know-how to get the job done, having been the best in six of the past eight seasons, while Arsenal will be hoping it won’t be a familiar story in the past three seasons when they finished runners-up.

“Maybe there are still weaknesses that we haven’t seen in the past, but they still have the arsenal that I think enables them to go on a crazy run now and go unbeaten and all that stuff,” former Manchester City goalkeeper Shay Given told BBC Radio.

“It’s not important to say that. The way they won on Sunday, the psychological aspect. They said ‘this is ours for the taking’.”

“The belief runs through the whole club and the fans where they think, ‘You know what, we still have a big chance.’ That will give them confidence going into this tie.”

The weight of expectation will rest heavily on Arsenal’s shoulders ahead of the clash with the Bees, with an uncomfortable night’s sleep after seeing City beat Fulham in a clinical first-half display.

But Arsenal know they can respond with three points at GTech Stadium, and if they follow that up with a win over bottom club Wolves next Wednesday, the exciting prospect of a nine-point lead awaits.

The two teams meet in the Carabao Cup final on Sunday, March 22, with the chance to land the first direct psychological blow.

Recent history shows that seven of the last 12 League Cup winners have won at least one other trophy in the same season, highlighting the importance of winning the trophy at Wembley next month.

They are scheduled to meet at the Etihad Stadium in the English Premier League in April, but the rivalry could see them face each other three times if they advance in both the Champions League and FA Cup.

While Arsenal did not sign anyone in the winter transfer window, City added Antoine Simenho, who has already scored five goals, and English international Mark Guehi, who contributed to keeping a clean sheet.

Guardiola said his team was “growing”, adding: “We were together, calmer with the ball, doing our job inside and outside.” [runs]. I would say the situation was not ideal for Nico O’Reilly and Phil [Foden] But sometimes it happens that he is in better positions, but in general he is really happy.

“We suffered a lot at Fulham and today, after we played at Anfield physically and emotionally, it became really difficult but we talked a lot and I said guys we have to do it again and we did.”