Pep Guardiola puts pressure on Manchester City players to deliver after Real Madrid humiliation with blunt appraisal of title hopes

Pep Guardiola has warned his players that there are 'no second chances' if they don't respond to Wednesday night's 3-0 defeat to Real Madrid by going out and getting the job done against West Ham United.

Manchester City will travel to London for Saturday's 8pm kick off to take on a Hammer side vying to pull off an upset that could lift them out of the relegation zone.

Guardiola's side meanwhile need to keep the pressure on Arsenal at the top of the Premier League - and the City boss believes that if they don't beat West Ham, they will be out of the title race altogether.

Pep Guardiola: 'Premier League title race is over if we don't beat West Ham'

City have already dropped points to a struggling side this month as they were held to a point by Nottingham Forest in a 2-2 draw at the Etihad Stadium.

Arsenal are seven points clear at the top having played a game more than City, and Guardiola feels that failing to close the gap will mean the title race is 'over'.

Speaking at his Friday afternoon press conference, Guardiola said: "We're still there, knowing that if we drop points it will be over.

"I've always said when we arrive in the last 10 games every team plays for something - for relegation, for Europa League, for Conference League, for Champions League, to be champions.

"It's normal, every game. Now there are no second chances."

For FourFourTwo, that actually seems like a pretty reasonable analysis of the picture at the top of the table on paper.

No eventual Premier League title winner has ever been more than three points behind the leaders at this stage of the season.

However, two of the four sides that have overcome that deficit are are none other than Guardiola's City, who did it two years in a row. They were three points behind leaders Arsenal after everyone had played 30 games in 2022/23, and down in third points three points behind Liverpool the next season - with Arsenal sitting in second place.

Even if a seven-point gap were maintained this weekend, City still need to host Arsenal in the league with five league games left on the agenda. For us, that still gives enough time for more twists and turns.

Realistically though yeah, Arsenal are winning it.