Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has warned his players to remain fully focused and eliminate their second-half inconsistencies if they are to keep their Premier League hopes alive.
City showed late resilience on Sunday, scoring twice in the closing stages to snatch a 2–1 victory away at Liverpool and close the gap on the Gunners to six points.
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However, those goals were the first Guardiola’s side have scored in the second half of any Premier League match in 2026.
Second-half concerns persist
The champions had surrendered a 2–0 first-half lead to draw 2–2 with Tottenham the previous week and were again outplayed for long spells after the break at Anfield, despite dominating the opening 45 minutes.
A win over Fulham on Wednesday would temporarily reduce the gap at the summit to three points before Arsenal visit Brentford. But Guardiola insists talk of a title race is premature until City address their inconsistency.
“We have to be better and be closer to the first half at Anfield and not the second,” Guardiola said at his pre-match press conference.
“What is the reason why, in the second half, we are still dropping our performance?
“It’s not whether the gap is three, four, five or six points, because if we don’t fix that, we will not win. Maybe not against Fulham; maybe it’ll be against Newcastle, or maybe in the next game at Leeds.”
Dias return boosts title push
City chase of silverware across four competitions received a boost with the return of Ruben Dias, who came on as a second-half substitute against Liverpool.
Khusanov earns Guardiola praise
In the recent absence of Dias and Josko Gvardiol through injury, young Uzbek defender Abdukodir Khusanov has seized his opportunity for increased first-team involvement.
Guardiola praised the 21-year-old’s rapid development since arriving in Manchester a year ago.
“I admit he doesn’t speak like William Shakespeare yet, but he’s getting better and better,” Guardiola joked.
“He’s so, so fast; recovery is one of his best attributes. But he’s also intelligent. Often, a player with that level of physicality relies only on their body, but he uses his head too.
“He’s improving on the ball and is very open-minded. City have found a central defender for many, many years to come.”
