Rico Lewis claims Manchester City are not paying Arsenal much attention in the Premier League title race.
City finally returned to winning ways with a galvanising 4-1 victory on the South Coast to bring their run of disappointing draws after taking the lead to an end. Julian Alvarez, Erling Haaland and Phil Foden were all on the score sheet and the Argentine saw a second goal taken away as it went down as an own-goal.
Arsenal scraped past Leicester City 1-0 earlier in the day so the Blues remain two points behind the Gunners but Lewis is paying the title rivals no mind. He said: “We don’t focus on them. We just need to focus on our job and do what we can do to put pressure on them. We focus on ourselves and try to get maximum points from every game we can."
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Lewis also admitted it's disappointing City were unable to keep a clean sheet against the Cherries.
Pep Guardiola made several changes, including handing a surprise debut to Maximo Perrone, with City in total control but there was a degree of disappointment when Jefferson Lerma fired home a late consolation for the hosts. Lewis says it was the one mark against an otherwise great day.
“Definitely," he replied when asked if he was disappointed not to keep the clean sheet. "It’s not ideal but at the end of the day we’ve walked away with the three points and that’s the end goal. We will though be looking to keep clean sheets as it’s important for goal difference."
“A very important win. It was a pretty good game," the starlet continued on the match. "It’s always tough to come away to these grounds and we showed a very mature performance. We came away with the three points which is always the end goal.
"We’ve had a few results where we weren’t as happy as we’d like to be, but it was a really comfortable victory so it’s really important for where we want to be. We made it easy by going 1-0 up early and then it was a domino effect from there – we had the energy and started on the front foot.”
Lewis believes City haven't been playing poorly in their last two draws but that perhaps momentary lapses in concentration have cost them. He said on the importance of remaining focussed: “It’s tough coming from the Champions League game midweek to then turn your mind onto the Premier League and focus.
"If you don’t focus, we will let it slip even further. We’re not losing games, it’s just a lot of domination but maybe a lapse in concentration and conceding a goal – it’s nothing to be sad about, we’re playing really well, and the performances are there, it’s just getting the results and today we showed that.”
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