Pep Guardiola speaks to the media ahead of Manchester City's trip to Southampton on Saturday afternoon as City look to put pressure on title rivals Arsenal, who have a tricky fixture at Anfield on the Sunday. Pep spoke on Erling Haaland's availabilty, full focus on Southampton, Romeo Lavia's progress since leaving the club, and the secrets to not being sacked.
Erling Haaland:
"He trained the last two days, really good. He will be ready."
Will he be ready for Bayern Munich on Tuesday?
"Bayern Munich is my last thought..."
Business end of the season:
"The last part of the season, [after the] international break, it depends on us how many games we're going to play. Premier League for sure, Champions League, FA Cup - win, we're in, don't, we're out."
Third game vs Southampton this season, third manager:
"Many times [this has happened] unfortunately..."
Prep for Ruben Selles' Southampton:
"If the manager was appointed yesterday it would be difficult but they've played a few games with the new manager. The patterns are quite clear. Every team is playing for something, a fight for the Premier League and a fight to be in the Premier League. Every game has its own characteristic and you have to be ready. Southampton have always been so tough there, the game we made it to one hundred points they were much better than us, we've drawn before [like last season]. It's tough and I have a feeling tomorrow won't be an exception."
Title race:
"If we drop points Arsenal will be champions in advance, if we win, win, win, we might be champions at the end of the season on the final day."
One game at a time:
"We are used to it, it's not a problem."
Playing before Arsenal, any benefits?
"I don't think so. When we had title race with Liverpool we sometimes played before, some times late. We have to win our games."
Did Pep take Lampard out for dinner?
"No, we were in touch when he was at Everton but pretty sure now he'll be busy. Maybe at the end of the season."
Good Lampard is back at Chelsea?
"Yeah, of course, an opportunity at the club he loves, a new challenge for him."
How long should managers get?
"I think that sporting director and owners make the decisions on managers when to sack him and how it works. In this country when I was younger it always had the tradition to keep the managers. What happens today with a lot of pressure for everyone, a lot of investment, in a way I understand there's a lot of pressure. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. It is what it is, you have to adapt."
Romeo Lavia's progress at Southampton:
"Really impressed with what Romeo is doing, we had and have an incredible opinion about him. We thought to keep him but we though maybe he doesn't get enough minutes like he'll get in Southampton. I'm so sorry for Juan Larios because he's an exceptional guy and he's been injured a lot. Sam Edozie, I didn’t see him much. It’s a great experience to play in the Premier League at this early age, it’s so important."
Reason Pep has never been sacked?
"I will tell you the secret: we win games. If we don't win games I would be sacked. It's not because my hair is better than the other ones. I'm not sacked because we win a lot of games."
Written by: @colgeogcra
Some quotes as quoted by Manchester Evening News and Manchester City.
Follow our Twitter account for reliable, live updates on all the latest news surrounding this story and everything Manchester City in real time.