'I have battles every day': Pep Guardiola primed for latest Man City title fight

Leeds – In the febrile air of Elland Road, where the soundtrack was as hostile as the weather, Manchester City reminded the Premier League that the chase is very much alive. A 1-0 win over Leeds United, sealed by Antonie Semenyo’s close-range strike deep into first-half stoppage time, was neither artistic nor emphatic, yet it carried the unmistakable scent of a champions’ victory: awkward, attritional and, above all, non-negotiable.

For Pep Guardiola, the evening ended with blown kisses to a baying South Stand and a wry smile that suggested he has seen this film before. He has, after all, won three of his six Premier League crowns on the final day of the season. “Now it’s three months [to go], now February is over, March, you arrive here,” he said. “You know everything is a mindset. One game at a time and do everything to win the game. At the end of the day, it’s what you have to do.”

City’s task was complicated by a Leeds side energised by Daniel Farke, who later received a red card for dissent, and roared on by a crowd that greeted every City touch with a fresh volley of abuse. The hosts’ high-tempo opening half-hour forced Guardiola’s reshuffled back line – featuring January recruit Marc Guehi alongside Ruben Dias and the increasingly assured Abdukodir Khusanov – into a series of last-ditch interventions. Once Semenyo pounced on a loose ball after Leeds failed to clear a corner, the visitors settled into the familiar rhythm of territorial control, hoarding possession without ever threatening a second.

Semenyo, signed from Bournemouth for £62.5 million in January, now has six goals in 11 City appearances and spoke afterwards of a mentality recalibrated in record time. “It’s just win, win, win, win, win,” the Ghana international said. “And when we are winning, defend like our lives depend on it. In a month and a bit that I’ve been here, my mentality has shifted.”

His manager, he added, remains the catalyst. “He’s proper passionate. For a manager that’s been winning for years, he still has that same passion, like it’s his first.”

City’s recent run has been stitched together by such resolve. Seven days earlier they edged Newcastle 2-1 at the Etihad; here they survived a late Leeds flurry during which bodies were flung in front of every shot and cross. Guardiola conceded the performance was imperfect – “I said to the players, score five goals today, you know, but they don’t follow me,” he joked – yet pointed to the gradual return of Rodri’s authority and Bernardo Silva’s perpetual motion as evidence that the “thousand million passes” template is re-emerging.

The calendar offers no mercy: 10 league fixtures remain, supplemented by a Carabao Cup final and ongoing Champions League and FA Cup campaigns. Guardiola knows the 1-0 grind is not a long-term strategy. “All logic suggests we need a few wins like the one Arsenal enjoyed at Elland Road,” he admitted, referencing the Gunners’ 4-0 stroll here four weeks ago that undermines any suggestion Mikel Arteta’s side are shrinking in the spotlight.

For now, City will take the points and the bruises. Jeremy Doku has returned to training, Erling Haaland is nearing fitness, and the squad that trudged through the winter looking vulnerable suddenly feels reinforced, both in numbers and in spirit. “As long as you have players fit, we will do it,” Guardiola insisted. “I have battles every day.”

Nearly 17 years after his first treble at Barcelona and almost a decade into life in Manchester, Guardiola still sounds like a man who would not swap those battles for anything. Arsenal may be top, but the serial winner in their rear-view mirror is closing fast – and relishing every kilometre of the pursuit.