Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola joked that his stars ‘drank all the alcohol in Manchester’ after being confirmed as Premier League champions on Sunday. Arsenal’s defeat by Nottingham Forest on Saturday meant that City retained their title before kicking a ball against Chelsea 24 hours later.
Guardiola’s side defeated the Blues 1-0 thanks to Julian Alvarez’s early goal. They have since drawn 1-1 with Brighton on Wednesday night and go into Sunday’s final day comfortably eight points clear of the Gunners.
City’s stars supposedly enjoyed a boozy Sunday night in Manchester, according to their head coach. Guardiola explained that he was pleased with his side’s performance against Brighton – despite the 1-1 draw – as they had the excuse of their high alcohol consumption just two days prior.
Speaking after the Brighton stalemate, Guardiola opened up on the weekend’s celebrations by telling Sky Sports: “The game we played, 48 hours after we drank all the alcohol in Manchester, 48 hours later we behaved and we showed why we were the champions against that team.”
Phil Foden’s early goal was cancelled out by a stunning long-range strike by Julio Enciso. Erling Haaland had a late header disallowed after VAR deemed the Premier League’s top scorer to be pulling on the shirt of Brighton defender Levi Colwill.
Guardiola was pleased that his side continued their momentum despite having already won the league. He added: “It’s so important [to continue momentum]. We couldn’t drop much, but it’s normal to drop off.
“Today, I didn’t see it. Against Chelsea, I didn’t see it. It’s normal that we can drop points and a little bit of intensity after being [confirmed as] champions.
“During the week, we have to rest and recover mentally. It has been demanding for four, five, six months with Bayern Munich and Real Madrid [in the Champions League], and chasing Arsenal.
“The training is just relaxed and there is no energy. That was the same before Chelsea, before today, and before Brentford we will prepare.”
City will check on the fitness of Foden and John Stones before Sunday’s final-day clash with Brentford. Foden was substituted after 50 minutes, while England team-mate Stones seemed to be struggling in the final few minutes of the contest.
Guardiola added: “They feel uncomfortable. Phil, that’s why we did the substitution five minutes into the second half. John at the end, he felt tight and of course, we have to be careful. The players want to play on the final day as much as possible.”
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