Pep Guardiola has admitted Manchester City cannot afford to lose any further ground on Premier League leaders Arsenal.
Arsenal hold an eight-point advantage over City, who travel to Leeds on Wednesday night, with Guardiola's side having been overtaken in second place by Newcastle. Guardiola claimed City have a “terrible” schedule in January, with games against Chelsea, Manchester United, Tottenham and Wolves in the league.
City also take on Chelsea in the FA Cup and Southampton in the EFL Cup, with Guardiola's side facing six fixtures in 18 days. Against that backdrop, Guardiola admitted there is no margin for error in City's pursuit of Mikel Arteta's table-topping Gunners, who have shown no signs of folding.
“After our defeat against Brentford and with how strong Arsenal are, as well as the opponents who come from behind, we have to be alert and careful,” said Guardiola. “If the distance is bigger, it will be so difficult to catch them.
“We have Leeds and then it's non-stop. Our schedule in January is terrible in terms of the amount of games and the quality of the opponents. So, we have to restart. This is what we did against Liverpool [in the EFL Cup] and hopefully we can continue."
City winger Riyad Mahrez echoed Guardiola and said the reigning champions cannot afford any slip-ups if they are to maintain their push for a third straight title.
"We have to hit the ground running,” said Mahrez. “We are not currently top of the Premier League and that is where we want to be. We will take it game by game but our aim is to try to win another title.
“There are lots of strong teams in England who could still win the league, so we are not just focused on Arsenal, although they have been very good so far. If we want to win the league, we will have to be ready as soon as the league starts again."
