Guardiola: Manchester City must win every game
By The Guardian, April 10, 2026Pep Guardiola has said Manchester City must win every game, starting with the Sunday, April 11, 2026, fixture at Chelsea, to have any chance of winning the Premier League.
His second-placed team trail Arsenal by nine points but have a game in hand and host the leaders next Sunday.
“In the situation we are in the Premier League, we need to win all of them; otherwise, it will not give us the chance to try until the end,” Guardiola said.
Dropped points
“We have not been consistent enough this season. We have dropped points that we should have taken, which is why we are now in the position where we cannot do anything differently.“
City have won six Premier League titles under Guardiola, and Bernardo Silva has been part of each.
The head coach joked he was “angry” with the Portugal international for not telling him he would be leaving after Pep Lijnders revealed Silva would depart in the summer.
Silva has made 450 City appearances, the most during Guardiola’s tenure, since signing in July 2017 from Monaco for approximately Ksh7 billion.
Guardiola said: “I’m so angry with Bernardo because a month ago I said: ‘If you take a decision, you have to be the first to tell me.’ He didn’t say anything yet. I said, joking, “Tell me I deserve it,” but he didn’t tell me so I don’t know what’s going on.
Favoured footballer
Guardiola outlined why Silva is a favoured footballer of his. “One of the dreams of a manager is a player who can play in every position except the keeper,” he said. “It means you have the intelligence to play in many positions.
“He was a winger in the year of the Treble, the decisive part of the season. Attacking midfield, he can play, but he’s not a player to make a lot of goals or runs in behind, but he’s intelligent to read the tempo of the game, and I like when he’s involved in all the processes.
“Maybe because he’s getting old—and when you get old you go back and back and back, he now plays in central midfield. He is so smart to read what is going on and what we have to do, and not all of them have this ability.”
Guardiola changed his policy for this season by deciding who should be captain, having previously allowed players to vote. He chose Silva. “The best decision I made this season,” he said.