Following his side’s draw with Brighton & Hove Albion, Pep Guardiola says Manchester City have “nine finals left” in their attempt to qualify for next season’s UEFA Champions League.
This comes after Brighton fought back twice to draw 2-2 with City at Etihad Stadium as the two clubs continue to battle for UEFA Champions League qualification.
Guardiola’s hosts knew a victory would take them above fourth-placed Chelsea, while Brighton had the chance to leapfrog Man City, but both sides had to settle for a point.
Erling Haaland converted from the penalty spot and Omar Marmoush scored with a 20-yard drive either side of Pervis Estupinan’s wonderful free-kick.
However, Abdukodir Khusanov’s own goal made it 2-2 early in the second half and Brighton missed a big chance to score a late winner.
Guardiola believes the race to qualify for the top four will go down to the last day, with only five points separating Chelsea in fourth and AFC Bournemouth in ninth.
“Nine games, nine finals. It looks like it [will go down to the last day],” Guardiola told the Man City website.
“Nine games still until the end of the season. We have tough games.
“It was quite similar to Nottingham Forest. Okay, we didn’t lose. The goal was not good enough but it will be [tight] until the end.
“Next game Leicester here and then Old Trafford but first Bournemouth in the FA Cup.”
Guardiola happy with City’s performance
Though his side dropped points again, Guardiola was far happier with their performance compared to their defeat at Nottingham Forest in City’s last league match.
“The performance was much, much, much better than the Nottingham Forest game. We make good moments. We had two goals in the first half and clear chances with Savinho,” Guardiola added.
“They are so good and they link inside and have pace with [Kaoru] Mitoma and [Yankuba] Minteh. In duels with [Carlos] Baleba and [Diego] Gomez they are really good.
“Jeremy [Doku] was incredible threat and Omar [Marmoush] played really well with the goal and the assist. Ruben [Dias] was fantastic with [Abdukodir] Kusa and in general it was good.
“We started the second half 2-1 up and had a good chance. In the corner we were sloppy and they equalised then we were unstable. That is normal.
“We came back in the game and had really good moments. We’ll take the point.”
