Pep Guardiola has warned Man City and Arsenal could slip up similarly to Liverpool – and agrees the Premier League title race is still wide open.
City, who have a game in hand, closed the gap on leaders Arsenal to one point on Thursday night with a flawless 4-0 victory at Brighton.
Liverpool have slipped to third and are three points adrift after damaging defeats at home to Crystal Palace and at rivals Everton on Wednesday evening.
But Guardiola is guarding against complacency ahead of their trip to Nottingham Forest on Sunday, live on Sky Sports, and is not ruling anything out during the run-in.
He told Sky Sports: “Many things can happen. What happened to Liverpool, against Crystal Palace and Everton, can happen to us. It can happen to Arsenal. Nobody is safe from that.
“So be calm, be happy today for the victory. The players are still there. Now just recover and think of the next one.
“We have been here in the past but that doesn’t mean just for the fact we’ve been here that it’s going to happen. We have to do the things to make it happen.”
In his post-match press conference, Guardiola added:
“Everton are playing to stay out of the relegation zone. In a similar game, we’re going to Nottingham Forest who are playing for their lives.
“Maybe because they were a real contender for many years, my appreciation for Liverpool is higher than ever. The game they drew at Old Trafford, the chances they missed, or [Wednesday], [Jordan] Pickford was exceptional with two or three saves in the important moments.
“The game against Crystal Palace, the chances they missed. Tell me a reason why. I’ll tell you, it’s football. I can give you a lot of examples for my team too.
“But it’s still there because I know the character of Liverpool, they will fight until the end and we have to do it too.”
Man City midfielder Kevin De Bruyne told Sky Sports:
“I trust my team obviously, all respect to Arsenal and Liverpool because they are amazing.
“Liverpool dropped points but Arsenal are doing what they need to do so we also need to do our job.
“That is to try and perform well against Nottingham Forest (on Sunday) and try and win that game, we just have to keep going, don’t get ahead of ourselves and stay humble enough to perform at our best.”
Meanwhile, fellow goalscorer Phil Foden couldn’t help but praise his colleagues in the City team after their comprehensive win on the south coast.
“Brighton are a very challenging team,” Foden told Sky Sports.
“They like to go man for man and play beautiful football but I think with Kev’s goal and the luck with my second goal, it settles us and we grew into the game. In the first half, it was frightening the way we attacked.”
