MANCHESTER: Pep Guardiola has warned that Manchester City cannot take anything for granted as they seek to claim an unprecedented fourth consecutive Premier League title against West Ham on Sunday.
City have the destiny of the title in their hands as they lead Arsenal by two points going into the final day of the season.
However, Guardiola pointed to the dramatic final day two years ago, when City had to come from 2-0 down late on to beat Aston Villa 3-2 to deny Liverpool the title.
The English champions were also made to sweat to beat Tottenham 2-0 on Tuesday despite many Spurs fans wanting their own side to lose to prevent north London rivals Arsenal claiming their first title for 20 years.
“We would like to be 3-0 up after 10 minutes but that’s not going to happen,” Guardiola said at his pre-match press conference on Friday.
“I’m ready for it to be a tough, tough game. I want to put in the mind of the players, ‘Look at Tottenham, how they fought for every ball’.
“It was the same with Aston Villa two years ago — they were in the same position, they didn’t have anything to play for — and we know what happened.
“Our people have to come here and be ready from the first minute, to be with us and do it together.”
City are attempting to become the first side in history to win four straight English top-flight titles and are on the brink of a sixth Premier League win in the past seven seasons.
Guardiola batted away suggestions that his side do not get the credit they deserve for the scale of those achievements.
“I don’t know what people think but if you ask all the Premier League teams at the start of the season, they would want to be in our position,” he said.
“We have one game left, destiny in our hands. Win our game and we will be champions.
“They (the players) know it is win or win, otherwise Arsenal will be champions.”

GENEVA: FIFA wants all 211 national federations to make racist abuse a disciplinary offense, and designate a crossed hands gesture by victims to alert referees to abuse.
Soccer’s world body detailed the tougher and more unified approach it wants to tackle racism on Thursday after months of consulting with victimized players including Real Madrid star Vinícius Júnior.
The crossed hands gesture was made on a medal podium at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 by United States athlete Raven Saunders who won silver in women’s shot put.
“It’s the intersection of where all people who are oppressed meet,” Saunders said in Tokyo.
FIFA is encouraging players to copy the gesture that led to Saunders facing a disciplinary investigation by the International Olympic Committee, which has rules prohibiting political statements at medal ceremonies.
Teams whose fans or players racially abuse opponents could soon face disciplinary punishments such as forfeiting games, typically as a 3-0 loss, as part of a five-pillar pledge on tackling discrimination. They will be put to FIFA member federations on Friday at their annual meeting in Bangkok.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino promised months ago to make a worldwide proposal and has consulted with Brazil star Vinicius Junior, who is Black and has been repeatedly abused by opposing fans in Spanish stadiums.
He broke down in tears at a news conference in March before Spain hosted Brazil in a friendly organized in fallout of the persistent abuse he has faced in his adopted home.
“The time has come for football to unite to unequivocally commit as a global community to address the issue of racism in the game,” FIFA said in a letter to member federations.
FIFA also wants to create a panel of players who will “monitor and advise on the implementation of these actions around the world.”
Soccer has struggled for more than a decade to deal with racism in stadiums by agreeing and coordinating on-field responses by match officials and post-match disciplinary action by federations and competition organizers.
Calls for tougher sanctions, such as match forfeits, points deductions or even disqualification from a competition have been judged too difficult to enforce legally. They also risk enabling agitators to try and provoke incidents.
Soccer leaders in countries such as Italy and Spain have consistently denied the sport has a racism problem.
In some cases, investigations were dropped by soccer authorities including UEFA because there was no evidence beyond a claim by the player alleging abuse.
Black players who claimed they were racially abused by opponents or fans and tried to leave the field have themselves been shown a yellow card for their actions.
FIFA wants the crossed hands gesture to be the recognized signal for referees to start a long-standing three-step process at a game where racial and discriminatory abuse is heard: To pause the play and broadcast warnings in the stadium, to take teams off the field, then abandon games.
That three-step process should be mandatory across all 211 federations, FIFA said on Thursday. They also will be asked to lobby their governments to make racism a criminal offense and prosecute cases, plus promote anti-racism work in schools.
Before Saunders crossed her hands in Tokyo, the gesture was used by the men’s marathon silver medalist at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
Feyisa Lilesa raised his arms above his head and crossed his wrists at the finish line in Rio in protest against government oppression at home in Ethiopia.
Saunders initially was in trouble with the IOC for making the gesture which also was a broader statement celebrating diversity. The IOC investigation was paused days later after Saunders’ mother died.