The Cityzens secured a comeback 4-2 victory over Crystal Palace on Saturday afternoon to briefly go top of the Premier League, only for Arsenal to leapfrog them following their 3-0 win at Brighton. Gunners boss Mikel Arteta predicted the title race with themselves, Liverpool, and City would go down to the last day of the season this week and now Guardiola agreed his side would have to be perfect to defend their title.

Following his side’s victory, when asked if City need to win all their remaining games to win the title, Guardiola replied: “Yeah. It’s three top teams. I would say we arrive at the end with a small margin of difference.”

This year’s Premier League title race could not be tighter. At present, one point separates three teams, although Liverpool can go top by two points once more with a win at Manchester United on Sunday afternoon. This is a title race for the ages and so far none of these three sides are wilting under the pressure.

City and Arsenal are in Champions League quarter-final action on Tuesday, with the former taking on Real Madrid and the latter facing Bayern Munich. Liverpool, on the other hand, are in the last eight of the Europa League, where they will lock horns with Atalanta on Thursday before the title race resumes next weekend.