Guardiola hails City's 'statement' win

LONDON — Pep Guardiola claimed Manchester City had made a "big statement" in the Premier League title race with its 3-0 win against Crystal Palace on Sunday.

Guardiola's side struggled to impose itself for long spells at Selhurst Park, but Erling Haaland's header late in the first half finally broke the deadlock.

After riding its luck thanks to several missed Palace chances before and after Haaland's opener, City showed its ruthless streak to kill off the Eagles.

Phil Foden drilled home from the edge of the area, before Haaland added a late third from the penalty spot.

Second-placed City has now won four in a row in the league and sits just two points behind leader Arsenal as the title race heats up.

Guardiola was especially impressed with the way City dug deep to subdue tenacious Palace, just days after its draining 2-1 win at Real Madrid in the Champions League.

"Always when you approach the game, whoever the opponent, on your terms, good things are going to happen. There's no sense to playing football without being who you are as an individual," Guardiola said.

"Still we are not at the top, but we are learning. We will be closer in the future. After playing at the Bernabeu, then we prepared to play the FA Cup winners."

It was a particularly sweet victory for Guardiola after being outwitted by Palace boss Oliver Glasner in last season's shock FA Cup final defeat at Wembley.

Palace has been a thorn in the side of champion Liverpool, beating it three times this season, and Guardiola acknowledged the threat posed by the south London side.

"It's behind a lot of work. Palace are so strong. Every time we play them it's so difficult," he said.

"It is a really tough place to come. When you lose the ball, they attack incredibly well but we were patient," Guardiola said.

"We were lucky when they hit the post, but really pleased for the performance and victory to grow our mentality."

Guardiola conceded City is still a work in progress following his expensive overhaul of the squad since last season.

But he took heart from its willingness to fight for the win over Palace — a vital characteristic it lacked throughout last season.

"Many things we have to improve. Madrid gave me a lot of things, that still we are not ready, not in mentality, but in how to approach certain games," he said.

"When you won in the past, you believe the past was perfect, always brilliant, always the red carpet. When we won with 100 points, all the things we achieved, we had a lot of games like today. The resilience was part of that.

"There are moments that you struggle. Madrid was not the perfect game, but it was a step. We fought unbelievably to achieve that.

"We are in a better position than last season. We are close in the competitions we are in," Guardiola added.

He welcomed his side's ability to absorb pressure and convert its chances, which had deserted it last term.

"It was an incredible lesson for us," Guardiola said of last season. "For me personally, it was an incredible lesson. But, despite that, we got to the final of the FA Cup and we finished third."

He added: "So many things are going to happen inside the locker room, and many things you have to improve. They are young, some of the players.

"In the first half we were in too much of a rush. We talked about the spaces we should attack, but we were not patient enough. After, we played with the tempo we should.

"But of course we are really, really pleased, because I know how tough (Palace) are, and winning 3-0 here is a good statement for us."

The Palace boss, however, said the margin of defeat did not reflect the quality of his team's performance. "When you play the top teams in the world, you need to be top in every single area of the game," Glasner said. "In nine out of 10 areas we were excellent today, but in the most important one, finishing, we were not good enough."

Rogers inspires Villa

Morgan Rogers scored twice in the second half to extend Aston Villa's winning run to nine straight games in all competitions with a 3-2 victory against West Ham on Sunday and keep Unai Emery's team on the heels of Arsenal and City.

Villa has lost just one of its last 13 games in the league and won 10 of its last 11, but twice had to come from behind at relegation fighting West Ham.

"We feel unstoppable, but we are making it difficult for ourselves," Rogers said.

"The battle and resilience we have means we know we can get back into it against a good team.

"We want to keep this going, it's about being confident and I'm feeling good."

Mateus Fernandes scored the fastest goal in England's top flight this season when putting the home team 1-0 up after just 29 seconds. But Konstantinos Mavropanos' own goal leveled the game eight minutes later.

Jarrod Bowen then gave West Ham the lead at halftime with his second goal in as many games in the 24th minute.

Rogers leveled the game again five minutes after the break, and struck the winner in the 79th.

Elsewhere in London, the pressure is mounting on Tottenham coach Thomas Frank, who was left infuriated after Spurs' latest loss.

Nottingham Forest pulled further away from the relegation zone with a 3-0 victory against Frank's beleaguered side.

Spurs have won just one of their last seven games in the league and face defending champion Liverpool at home this week.

"It's hugely annoying, (I'm) burning inside," said Frank. "I had such a good feeling going into this game, then we deliver this performance, which is not good enough."

Agencies