Pep Guardiola insists there is no extra pressure on his Manchester City team in the title race despite dropping points against Chelsea on Saturday.
Victories for title rivals Liverpool and Arsenal means City cannot go top by beating Brentford on Tuesday night but can still overtake Arsenal into second place with a win.
City do, however, remain unbeaten in 15 games having won their previous 11 in a row before being held by Mauricio Pochettino’s Chelsea side and City manager Guardiola believes there is no extra pressure on his team in the title race.
“No. We have the same pressure tomorrow as we did in the last 15 games,” he said.
“We won 13 and drawn two, where we played to win. Pressure is the same, no difference.
“The standards that we have created to be there, what we have done in the past, I understand the doubts, but what I see, I am more than satisfied.
“It’s not easy to sustain for a long, long time, for 11/12 months it’s not easy. We were 11 games winning and winning and people said they are not going to lose a game.
“You demand to us all the time because we achieved what we achieved. We have to live with that. We know that.”
City are competing to make history this season with no team having ever won the Premier League four seasons in a row.
But the Spaniard is facing stiff competition from Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal, who have won five games in a row, and league leaders Liverpool, and the City manager insists it is not as easy as people think for his team to win the Premier League.
“We know how difficult it is. It’s you that believe it is easy, not us,” he said.
“We have opportunity to go second, close to Liverpool and there’s still a lot of games to play.
“The reality is since we lost to Aston Villa, we didn’t lose one game and the games we drew, we were better. Who was better over 95 minutes against Crystal Palace and Chelsea? We were better.
“Will we win the Premier League this year? I don’t know. Next 10 years will City win the league (every year)? No it won’t happen, but still we are there.
“We are not satisfied with the result, but that’s part of the game and I don’t know why you don’t credit the opposition. We will improve and be focused for the title race.”
