Pep Guardiola: Manchester City coach said the title race is “over” if they drop points against West Ham

Pep Guardiola said the Premier League title race would be “over” if it was him Manchester City Side landing points at West Ham on saturday.

Second-placed City are in second place, seven points behind leaders Arsenal, despite having a game in hand – nine games remaining compared to Arsenal’s eight. The two teams will also meet in a potentially pivotal confrontation at Al-Ittihad Stadium on April 19.

However, Guardiola is looking no further than this weekend, saying: “Now we are West Ham. The Premier League is the most difficult title.

“We are still there, and we know that if we drop points it will be over.

West Ham are competing at the other end of the table and find themselves in the relegation zone, behind Nottingham Forest, who is ranked 17th on goal difference only.

However, their results have improved recently and the Hammers have only lost one of their past five Premier League matches.

Guardiola knows Nuno Espirito Santo’s side are fighting for points, but the Spaniard said City are also “desperate”.

Guardiola said: “I always said when we reach the last 10 matches, every team is playing for something, such as relegation, the Europa League, the Conference League, the Champions League, to be the champion. This is normal, in every match.”

“Now there are no second chances.”

Guardiola did not want to talk about the 3-0 defeat to Real Madrid on Wednesday in the Champions League round of 16 before his trip to the London Stadium.

“Tomorrow evening, we have a match, which is an important match for the Premier League position. Then we have the return match,” he said on Friday.

City, which lost in the Champions League play-off round last season, will host Real Madrid in the second leg on Tuesday.

“It’s a pleasure to be here. Last season we couldn’t reach this stage, so it’s nice,” Guardiola added.