Watford vs Manchester City: Pep Guardiola says Premier League leaders 'suffered' at Vicarage Road
City are now five points clear of Liverpool with Leroy Sane and Riyad Mahrez scoring either side of half-time
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Pep Guardiola said Manchester City were made to suffer after they survived a late scare to beat Watford and extend their lead at the Premier League summit.
City are now five points clear of Liverpool, who travel to Burnley on Wednesday, with Leroy Sane and Riyad Mahrez scoring either side of half-time at Vicarage Road.
The champions appeared to be cruising towards the victory, but were made to fight for all three points after Abdoulaye Doucoure set up a nervy conclusion when he bundled the ball home for Watford with five minutes remaining.
City could have put the game out of reach in the opening period but spurned a number of chances, and came up against an inspired Ben Foster in Watford's goal.
"We had the chances to kill the game and score a third, and maybe a fourth but we missed them," said Guardiola. "In the first half they had one clear chance, but we had many, and then we had three or four more chances after we went 2-0 ahead.
"Then, we started to lose balls and let them have an opportunity to get back into it. In this league, you have to score the third goal and we didn't do that, so that's why we suffered near the end."
City's victory was played out against the backdrop of off-the-pitch allegations that they have flouted Financial Fair Play rules, but Guardiola insisted on Tuesday night he will welcome any investigation.
"Uefa is doing what it is doing," he said. "And if it finds something, the club will make a statement, and I would like that, because we know we are going to finish with these voices.
"If we did something irregular, we will know it.
"If we didn't do something irregular, the people can stop talking about it.
"I trust a lot in my club, in our organisation. If something is wrong, they're going to tell us."
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments