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ILKAY’S WARNING Pep in cover-up

ILKAY GUNDOGAN has ordered Manchester City to be ruthless and run their rivals into the ground.

Pep Guardiola’s men are closing in on the Premier League title following Sunday’s 1-0 home win over defending champions Chelsea.

City need just four more wins from their last nine games to be guaranteed adding the title to the Carabao Cup.

And Gundogan wants them to keep putting teams to the sword, even after they have been crowned.

The Germany midfielder fears a drop in performance would kill their hopes of lifting the Champions League.

He said: “In my experience, it’s not always good to lose one, two, even five ® per cent of having that pressure, game by game.

“I don’t know if it would be good to win the league that early. Obviously we want to win it and if we do, when that happens is not in our hands. But you need to always play seriously.

Amazing

“For example, the (Champions League) second leg against Basel is coming up after we dominated the first leg and won 4-0.

“You should always try to play in a serious way. If you are able to win the league early, you can lose that seriousness for the Champions League. “We know we have had an amazing season and we just want to continue that in both competitions – and be successful.”

Gundogan says the incredible football City are producing under Guardiola is fun to be involved in.

He said: “Confidence is something that comes with time and changes with time, depending on your form, but the quality of the players doesn’t.

“This squad has huge quality and it’s fun to be out there because every single player is able to do something special.”