Guardiola Says Man City's Match Against West United is the Title of the League. Here's the Reason

JAKARTA - The battle for the English Premier League title will end if Manchester City fails to conquer West Ham United. Arsenal 'definitely' ended the 22-year league trophy drought.

Arsenal is predicted to be able to overcome Everton who play away at the Emirates, Sunday, March 15, 2026 WIB. If they win, then Arsenal who gets 70 points is 10 points ahead of Man City.

With the points gap already quite far, Man City has no choice but to win the match against West Ham which was held at the London Stadium, a few hours after the Arsenal match.

The failure to score points in the away game could make it difficult for Man City to hunt down Arsenal. After the match against The Hammers, Pep Guardiola's team still has seven matches, including facing Arsenal at home.

Even though mathematically it is still possible to catch up with the leader of the standings, football is clearly not a mathematical calculation. And in the Premier League it is definitely not easy to win the last seven matches.

Moreover, The Cityzens still meet with relegation zone teams Burnley and Chelsea who are ambitious to enter the Champions League zone. According to him, the hunt for the title of champion is over if Man City fails at home to West Ham.

"The match against West Ham will be the decider in the Premier League. It must be admitted that given the tight competition, this league is the most difficult to win the title. In fact, I predict that this league is the most difficult," Guardiola said as quoted by Sky Sports.

"Just know that if we lose points, then the title race is over. There is no second chance," he said again.

The competition is getting more intense and tight towards the end of the competition when Man City can't beat Nottingham Forest who are trying to get away from the relegation zone. In that match, Erling Haaland et al were only able to play a draw 2-2 so that Arsenal was left behind.

"I always say when the competition enters the last 10 matches, every team competes for their own interests. Some want to get out of the relegation zone, some want to perform in the Europa League or Conference League and the Champions League. Especially if they still have a chance to win," said the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich coach.

"This is what makes this league so interesting and fun. Last season, we weren't even in this position [to compete for the league title]," he said again.

Only, Guardiola had some difficulty rotating the players. After facing Espirito Santo Nuno's team, Man City immediately focused on playing against European powerhouse Real Madrid in the second leg of the Champions League 16th round.

The question is in the first match, they were slaughtered 3-0. This makes Man City have to work hard to catch up with the goal deficit when hosting Los Merengues at the Etihad, in the big match in midweek.

"We will face an important match. In fact, this is one of the very important matches. Furthermore, we will play the second match [against Real Madrid]," said Guardiola.

Starting XI

West Ham United: Areola; Wan-Bissaka, Todibo, Disasi, Diouf; Soucek, Potts; Bowen, Pablo, Fernandes; Castellanos

Manchester City: Donnarumma; Nunes, Dias, Guehi, Ait-Nouri; Rodri, O'Reilly Bernardo; Cherki; Semenyo, Haaland