Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola admitted that his substitutions added to the nervous ending after they thumped a dejected Leicester City 3-1 at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday, April 15.
With a convincing victory over the Foxes, City have now reduced the points deficit to Arsenal by three. English centre-back John Stones opened the scoring as Erling Haaland scored twice in the first 25 minutes and equalled Mohamed Salah's record for the most goals in the English Premier League (EPL) season.
But at half-time, Guardiola withdrew both his goal scorers as Kevin De Bruyne, Rodri and Jack Grealish entered the fray after the interval. In the last 20-25 minutes, the Cityzens got their foot off the pedal as Leicester tried to turn things around after Kelechi Iheanacho tapped in the first goal for the Foxes to make it 3-1. Later, the Nigerian missed a golden chance while James Maddison also wasted a sitter.
The late turnaround did cause some scares for Guardiola but they managed to clinch three points.
"Of course we were worried. It was 3-1 from our mistake and they had the chances with Maddison and Kelechi, so the game was tricky in the last 15 minutes. The first 60 or 65 minutes was good. I'd like us to push ourselves better and avoid what happened after 3-0, so we do not suffer, but it happened because of the substitutions. From my experience, when you do that, this happens," he said.
City have now managed to win nine successive games and are chasing silverware in three different tournaments. That's the major reason why the 52-year-old had to substitute his stars on the night. "We started really well, with incredible focus, but at the end when you make a lot of substitutions at the same time, you always drop a little bit," Guardiola said.
"If the guys from the second half started, it would be the same approach that we had in the beginning. It's just a fact that playing every three days, we have to make a lot of rotations. I made just two [changes] in the beginning. When the game was under control, I made the rest."
City will now play Bayern Munich on Wednesday as they will look to defend their three-goal cushion and qualify for the Champions League semi-finals.
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