Manchester City manager, Pep Guardiola has acknowledged that his team’s place in next season’s Champions League is at serious risk.
City, who are currently seventh in the Premier League, sit four points behind fourth-placed Nottingham Forest and one point adrift of fifth-placed Bournemouth.
Their recent form of just four points from eight matches has left them vulnerable to missing out on Europe’s elite competition for the first time in over a decade.
“When I said before that qualifying for the Champions League is a success, people laughed,” Guardiola stated. “But now we are at risk. If we don’t win games, we will be out, it’s as simple as that.”
With Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, and Manchester United dominating Europe’s top four in past decades, Guardiola warned that City could face a similar fate if they fail to address their issues.
Upcoming matches against Everton, Leicester, and West Ham offer an opportunity to turn things around, but Guardiola admits the pressure is mounting:
“For every club, Champions League qualification is vital. If we don’t make it, it’s because we didn’t deserve it.”
The defending champions will need to reverse their poor run of form to stay in contention against an unexpected array of challengers, including Aston Villa, Brighton, and Fulham.
