PEP Guardiola saluted his Champions-elect for “outstanding season” after they edged closer to the title.
Goals from Gabriel Jesus, Ilka Gundogan and Raheem sterling secured a 3-1 win at Tottenham and assured the Premier League crown will be the city in less than 24 hours, if Manchester United lose to West Brom today.
Otherwise, the city has a chance to win at home, beating Swansea next Sunday.
Guardiola’s side came at Wembley against the backdrop of three consecutive defeats, which saw them dumped out of the Champions League to Liverpool and miss a chance to seal the Premier League title, defeating the organization.
Their reply was categorical and Guardiola said: “It was a good test against one of the strongest teams in the League.
“We now have 87 points with five games left because we were outstanding all season.
“People say it was a big failure, what happened last week, but they don’t understand the reality of football.
“You can win the Champions League in seven League matches is 10 months. Sorry, it’s much more important what these guys have done this season.
“I hope we can celebrate with our fans against Swansea and become Champions because they earned it.”
Guardiola will not be watching the game with Manchester United West Brom, preferring to play Golf with his son.
He added: “I will hear scores? Bogie, double bogie, birdie.
“Of course, good football is unpredictable. It doesn’t matter. Everything is in our hands, we had one chance, and now we have another one.
“The players deserve respect for what they’ve done this season.”
Jesus struck in the 22nd minute when he raced 60 yards Vincent Kompany and fired home.
Gundogan scored the second from the penalty spot three minutes later after spurs goalkeeper Hugo Lloris brought down Sterling, though the contact was outside the penalty area.
Christian Eriksen pulled one back for spurs before the break, but the samples had wrapped points in the second half.
“We have just started to compete after 2-0 down, we scored, but, of course, 90 minutes Manchester city were better,” said the coach, “spurs” Mauricio pochettino.
“We congratulate them, they are very close to victory in the Premier League.
“After 14 games unbeaten for us today was a difficult game to play after three defeats in a row. But we missed the first 20 or 25 minutes.
“The way we conceded was disappointing, but there’s nothing to worry about. We are in the top four, we need to move on after this game”
Sourse: breakingnews.ie
