Fulham vs Man City: Pep Guardiola relishing simplicity of Blues’ task in title race

Pep Guardiola was watching. Of course he was. He will have seen the ball thudding off Mo Salah’s head and off Hugo Lloris’s palms and off Toby Alderweireld’s ankles and over the line. He will have seen the Anfield crowd rising as one, Jurgen Klopp spearing salmon on the touchline, Manchester City’s lead at the top of the Premier League overturned in an instant. And then, you suspect, he will have turned off the television and got back to work.

After all, in the cut and thrust of a title race, there are enough of your own problems to be dealing with without having to worry about anyone else’s. Guardiola’s side had already done their job by beating a limp Fulham side 2-0 at Craven Cottage. Win their last seven league games, and nothing Liverpool can do or say will be of any relevance to him. And it was interesting to contrast Liverpool’s amped-up, vein-popping celebrations on Sunday afternoon with the sweatless, bloodless calm of City on Saturday. This is just how Guardiola likes it, and it’s a mentality he’s been at pains to convey to his players too.

At one point, Guardiola was asked how far in advance he decided which players to rest for which fixtures. “No, no,” he insisted. “I take it before each game. We don’t go far away from what is next. Next is not Brighton, it’s Cardiff. That is the best way, in my experience with other clubs, when we fight for many titles: don’t think too much.”

Don’t think too much. Of course, Guardiola has frequently been accused of the very opposite, particularly in big Champions League games. But when it comes to the relentless treadmill of league football, it’s probably wise to listen to a manager whose record currently reads seven titles in nine campaigns. For Guardiola, conscious thought – particularly of the manic, introspective kind – is the enemy here. “Don’t think too much,” he repeated. “What’s next is Cardiff. Go like a machine to win. I think they are ready.”

And since losing to Newcastle at the end of January, City have been nothing if not a winning machine: 11 wins out of 12 in all competitions, or 12 out of 12 if you include the penalty shoot-out triumph over Chelsea in the Carabao Cup final. The international break offered another potential bump in the road. But even before the game started, Guardiola was reassured. His assistant Mikel Arteta had been watching the warm-ups. “They did incredible,” Arteta told him. “They were up for it. They are there.”

“Always after international break you have the doubts,” Guardiola admitted. “Most of the players have national team, a change of training sessions, a change of rhythm, they are a little bit distracted. That’s why I was so surprised how well we started in the first 15 minutes. If you want a title, you have to play, you have to be fit. You cannot be tired. And they show me again. They go and do it.”

Note the intriguing mix of bravery and bravado: the idea that an element of self-kidology is necessary in these weeks, too. “People say you need a break,” Guardiola said. “Maybe for the semi final of the FA Cup and the Champions League, it would be nice.

But being in our position, when you know that if you don’t win, you are going to lose the Premier League, it’s going to help us. When you are 10 points in front, you can be a little more selective. Now, we don’t have a choice. Every game, in every week, we have to win. It’s nice.”

Perhaps that’s why, in a weird way, Guardiola might just have relished that late Liverpool winner. Taking a decisive advantage in the title race: very nice, but in a way, it complicates things.

And for a coach who has made breathtaking simplicity his trademark, what could be simpler than having to go out and win every single game they play? On the machine rumbles. On to the next. And don’t think too much. Because, on some level, you suspect they already know what to do.