Pep Guardiola has labeled Manchester City’s 2-1 win over Newcastle as a “massive” moment in the English Premier League title race.
Guardiola’s side closed the gap on leaders Arsenal to just two points with their tense victory at the Etihad Stadium.
Nico O’Reilly put City ahead in the first half and restored the lead before half-time after
Lewis Hall had equalized.
City weren’t at their best in the second half, but they held on to pile pressure on spluttering Arsenal.
Guardiola knew it was essential to make Arsenal sweat ahead of their clash with Tottenham.
"Massive. Newcastle is an incredible team, awesome in physicality and speed they have up front. Physicality in the middle. Really tough but the team was unbelievable,” he said.
"It’s coming in the best part of the season. Every single game will be similar to today.”
After finishing without a trophy last season, City are back in the hunt for the seventh English title of Guardiola’s reign. They will have a game in hand on Arsenal after this weekend and are guaranteed to win the title if they win their last 11 league matches.
Guardiola has embarked on an expensive overhaul of City’s squad in the last 12 months, shedding aging stars like Kevin De Bruyne, Ederson and Kyle Walker and bringing in the likes of Marc Guehi, Antoine Semenyo and Rayan Cherki.
The Spaniard is well aware that his new generation largely lacks the experience of winning under the pressure of a title race, which made their gritty success against Newcastle even more meaningful.
"Seventy percent of the players have never been in that situation ... we have to live it, they know that every game will be like this,” he said.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
