Manchester City coach, Josep Guardiola believes his team will have difficulty facing West Ham United in the final match of the 2023-2024 Premier League. That’s why he feels that Man City’s path to winning the 2023-2024 Premier League title will not be easy.
Currently, Man City is two points ahead of Arsenal at the top of the 2023-2024 Premier League standings. With one match remaining, this condition clearly means they are just one step away from securing the championship title.
The match against West Ham United at the Etihad Stadium will be the deciding factor. The match is scheduled to take place on Sunday (19/5/2024).
Meanwhile Arsenal, who sit in second place, hope their rivals drop points and they beat Everton at the Emirates Stadium at the same time to become champions.
The Hammers – West Ham’s nickname – have nothing left to fight for at the end of this season after being confirmed to finish in ninth place. Moyes also gave up fighting Erling Haaland et al by saying ‘it will be difficult to stop City’s U-14 team from winning the title’.
However, Man City almost lost the title twice in the last match until they had to come back from a left behind position by scoring a goal in the final minutes. The first was when they beat Queens Park Rangers (QPR) in 2012 and the second was when they made a comeback against Aston Villa in 2022.
Because of this, Guardiola believes West Ham will make it difficult for his team to secure the Premier League title this season in the final match, reflecting on the difficulties his troops faced in beating Tottenham Hotspur in the 37th week. He also predicts that a fierce battle like the one against Aston Villa two seasons ago will happen again this weekend.
“He (Moyes) will do everything to beat us. I am ready to face a very difficult match. “I want to remember the players who saw Tottenham how they fought for every ball,” said Guardiola as quoted by ESPN, Saturday (18/5/2024).
“Extraordinary aggression and commitment that Spurs have. I have no doubts about that. 11 West Ham players will be ready to beat us. That happened when Aston Villa were in the same position and there was no influence (in the last match) two seasons then and I know what happens will be the same,” he added.
Nevertheless, Guardiola has a good record against Moyes, where he has only lost once to the Scottish coach. Meanwhile, The Citizens – Man City’s nickname – have been unbeaten against West Ham in the last 16 matches.
If he wins, Guardiola will help the Manchester Blue Army win their sixth Premier League title in history. In fact, he made his team the first English team in history to win the domestic league four times in a row.
“If you asked all the Premier League teams at the start of the season which position was the best for the last game of the season, we were in the best position. That’s for sure,” said the Spanish coach.
“One game left, fate is in our hands. We need to win one game to become champions. Any team would love to be in our position, that’s for sure,” he added.
“But it won’t be easy. I feel this will be an Aston Villa match. We would like to be 3-0 up after 10 minutes but that won’t happen,” he concluded.
