Pep Guardiola has dismissed suggestions that Manchester City’s Premier League title defence is finished following their 1–1 draw with West Ham United on March 14, 2026.
Speaking after the match in an interview shared by Sportlivy via their youtube channel, Guardiola was asked about earlier comments suggesting the title race could be “over” if his side dropped points. The City manager quickly rejected that idea, responding that the race is still alive because his team did not lose.
During this conversation, the interviewer asked;
Pep, you said that if City dropped points in this game, the title race is over. Is it?
Pep Guardiola responded asking;
Who said?
The Interviewer responded;
You said that yesterday.
Pep Guardiola reacted saying;
No, it’s not over. Because we didn’t lose. [chuckles] No, it’s not over. We continue. We have an incredible team spirit, and we fought after incredible amount of effort in Madrid with the result and how we play.
Um, first half, more control for the shape, for the quality players and, and, and we put the energy in the second half with incredible talent players. And yeah, the last two games, Nottingham Forest, we played much, much better.
And so not just the stats, the feeling, so. We’re an incredible team, so we play so good. The plays, guys, and go and go, and until the end, we continue. So it will happen that season.
So we didn’t score enough goals when we had the quality to score, and we lack of score goals, they punish us because team, okay, can score one goal even two.
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Guardiola praised the spirit shown by his players after what he described as an exhausting week, particularly following their difficult European clash in Madrid.
According to the City boss, his team showed strong energy throughout the match and controlled large periods of the game.
However, Guardiola admitted the main issue was a lack of clinical finishing. City created several opportunities but failed to convert them into goals.
“We didn’t score enough goals when we had the quality to score. Teams can punish you because they can score one, even two.”
Despite the frustration, Guardiola insisted that the team’s overall performances remain encouraging. He pointed to recent displays against Nottingham Forest and West Ham as evidence that City are still playing well and will continue fighting until the end of the season.
The draw came just days after City suffered a 3–0 defeat to Real Madrid in the Champions League quarter-final first leg, a result that severely damaged their hopes of progressing in the competition.
Softfootball reported that the intense effort required in Madrid may have affected City’s sharpness against West Ham, contributing to the dropped points.
Meanwhile, Arsenal strengthened their position at the top of the Premier League table with a 2–0 win over Everton, extending the gap between the two sides.
Softfootball noted that while Guardiola remains publicly confident, City now have almost no margin for error in the remaining fixtures if they hope to catch Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal side in the race for the title.
