Guardiola gamble fails as City held
Manchester, March 9: Pep Guardiola has refused to concede the Premier League title to Chelsea despite a disappointing 0-0 home draw with Stoke City which left Antonio Conte’s league leaders with a 10-point lead at the top of the table.
The Manchester City manager gambled by resting key players John Stones, David Silva and Raheem Sterling ahead of this weekend’s FA Cup quarter-final at Middlesbrough and next week’s Champions League last 16 second leg trip to Monaco.
The tactic backfired with City only looking like breaking down Stoke after Guardiola threw on Spanish international Silva as a substitute with just under an hour gone.
“I have said before, we take it game by game,” said Guardiola of the lead held by Chelsea. “The lead is 10 points and we now have one less game.
“We’re going to see what happens in the next game and then take it game by game. When a gap is like this, you have to focus like that; not on big targets.”
Guardiola insisted that he had no regrets over his gamble to rest key players and, with City looking impressive in the FA Cup and Champions League, there was logic behind his selection. “The priority is the next game,” said Guardiola. “And we play for the next game.”
Stoke’s former Manchester City manager Mark Hughes was pleased with his team’s response following their last away outing, a disastrous 4-0 defeat at Tottenham, but admitted he was surprised, and relieved, when he discovered Silva was not starting for the home side.