Pep Guardiola Makes Newcastle Assessment Toward Title Race Amid Arsenal Lead

Pep Guardiola feels Newcastle are legitimate Premier League title candidates, citing a scheduling advantage over Manchester City and Arsenal. Their hunger and taste for accolades has got the team all fired up.

Newcastle, an English team that just changed managers and made significant investments in the summer window, appears to be on track to compete for the Champions League slot alongside the English big six. This season, their performance has caused a stir in the league as they continue to win and dominate their games.

Manchester City leads Newcastle in third place by two points after the final day of 2022 fixtures. A position that has shocked many observers and their remarkable growth this season under Manager Eddie Howe, argues Guardiola, is not to be underestimated.

The city manager stated that he wasn’t expecting Newcastle to be in the top three at this point in the season, but that their August draw with the Blues and the following run of results indicate that they shouldn’t be underestimated.

When asked if Newcastle could maintain their form in the Premier League, Guardiola said:

“Nobody knows, I don’t know what’s going to happen but if they continue to play with this consistency”

“When we played them in our third game and we drew 3-3 after going 3-1 down I was in the locker room and everyone [outside] was saying, ‘Ah, City, the champions, dropped two points to Newcastle, how s*** they are’. But I said they are so good. Joelinton, Saint-Maximin, Guimaraes, Trippier, the structure, all the guys” he added.

Following a remarkable holdout by Leeds that resulted in a draw against Newcastle, Newcastle will enter the new year as third in the league and will be expected to take points away from league leaders Arsenal in their next game.