Pep Guardiola said he expects the Premier League title race to go down to the wire after Manchester City beat Aston Villa 4-1 at the Etihad.
Phil Foden fired in a fantastic hat-trick as the champions increased the pressure on Arsenal and Liverpool, with just one point separating the top three ahead of Liverpool’s clash with Sheffield United this evening.
Rodri opened the scoring at the Etihad after converting from Jeremy Doku’s cut-back, but an injury-hit Aston Villa responded through Jhon Duran’s equaliser, following a well-worked move involving former City youngster Morgan Rogers.
Foden restored the home side’s lead as his free-kick found a gap in the Aston Villa wall, with Nicolo Zaniolo the guilty party as he broke away from his teammates.
City controlled the game after the break and Foden took centre stage to score his second Premier League hat-trick of the campaign, sweeping in his second of the night for his 20th goal of the season in all competitions.
The England international saved the best for last with a fierce finish lashed into the top corner, sealing an important three points against a Villa team pushing for Champions League football.
Guardiola discussed the tightness of the title race and believes the Premier League could be decided on the final weekend of the campaign.
“If we win all our games it will be down to the last day because they are not five, six, seven points in front,” he said at his post-match press conference.
“It will not be easy. I see Liverpool and Arsenal dropping points but you never know.
“We have to show up and do our job and don’t regret that we should have won that game because they lost the game after.
“We cannot do anything. We cannot control what they do. We have to win our games, that’s all we can do.”
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