“I said before the game that I wasn’t sure if City could win the league with [Mateo] Kovacic and he went and scored two goals, but they did look a bit open in midfield. Then on Arsenal, Russell Martin, Southampton’s manager, called them soft, lacking in fight and spirit… I think he’ll have probably changed his mind after today because they did put up a real show for large parts of that game. But Arsenal got there in the end and I think it’s an important one for them going into the international break.”
On the ultra-difficult title race, he added: “It’s mind-blowing to me. I think when [Jose] Mourinho came [to Chelsea] in the mid-2000s, he changed the game. We used to think that we could saunter along up to Christmas, January we’d be okay and then kicking on in February through to April and May, where we really had to hit our stride.
“Mourinho came in and then went so far in front, starting really quickly out of the blocks, and it got to the point whereby you can’t afford to go behind in terms of points before Christmas. I think that’s the same now with Pep Guardiola. If you think about Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool and now Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal, having to chase them all the time. You have to stay with them right from the very beginning.”
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