Pep Guardiola admits Man City have ‘seven finals’ left in the Premier League as the Spaniard seeks to avoid missing Champions League for the first time in 17 years

• Guardiola said City’s seven remaining league games should be treated like finals
• City risk missing the Champions League for the first time under his management
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By JACK GAUGHAN

Pep Guardiola admitted Manchester City now have seven cup finals to qualify for the Champions League after losing their advantage in the race for Europe.

City dropped out of the top five for the first time in almost three months earlier this week, with Guardiola claiming the performance during Sunday’s dour draw against Manchester United was not good enough.

The perennial champions have won just three of their last eight Premier League games and Guardiola suggested they may need maximum points from now on in to avoid missing out on a lucrative spot at the continent’s top table.

‘With 21 (points), we’ll be there, that’s for sure,’ Guardiola said. ‘Now it’s not very complicated, we don’t have 15, 20 games, now we have seven games left. It’s a final every single game.

‘We have to win a lot of games to qualify, because of Newcastle and the quality of Aston Villa. All the teams involved: Chelsea and Nottingham Forest, Fulham is there – there are a lot of teams that will be there, and you have to win games.

‘Some spirit is back. Some games were good – United no – and the spirit is there. The spirit will sustain us. Maybe we struggle in a game but the spirit has to be there. We saw with incredible curiosity the Champions League games this week and I know the spirit with which they play. It’s what we need to do.’

Pep Guardiola said that every one of Man City’s final seven Premier League games is a ‘final’

City dropped out of the top five for the first time in almost three months earlier this week

Guardiola has never failed to make the Champions League in his 18-year managerial career, except in his first season when he managed Barcelona B

City have a tricky balancing act of planning for next season while not knowing which competition they will be playing in, while also waiting the judgement on their hearing with the league over alleged financial impropriety.

Director of football Txiki Begiristain’s replacement, Hugo Viana, officially started work on Monday and Guardiola wants the Portuguese to deliver home truths as they look to reshape the squad.

‘It will be so easy to communicate with him,’ Guardiola said. ‘The way we talk, his composure like Txiki – no stress, not like me – and the balance is calm.

‘Hopefully Hugo can express himself. I’ve asked him to forget about what we have done. We need your vision. You don’t come here to just follow what we’ve done in the past.

‘Let’s talk, what you’ve seen about the team over many months watching us, what we can do better.’

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Pep Guardiola admits Man City have ‘seven finals’ left in the Premier League as the Spaniard seeks to avoid missing Champions League for the first time in 17 years

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