Pep Guardiola Says Man City 'Need a Break' After Narrow 1-0 Win Over West Ham

Pep Guardiola has praised his Manchester City side for their 'incredible' performance during Wednesday night's 1-0 victory over West Ham United. City were

Pep Guardiola has praised his Manchester City side for their 'incredible' performance during Wednesday night's 1-0 victory over West Ham United.

City were frustrated by the visitors for much of the encounter, only managing to break the deadlock after Felipe Anderson was adjudged to have fouled Bernardo Silva in the box midway through the second half. Sergio Aguero neatly tucked away the resulting spot-kick to set City on course for a crucial three points in the Premier League title race.

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The result followed two energy-sapping victories and capped off a fine week for City. The previous Wednesday had seen Guardiola's men snatch a late Champions League victory away to Schalke when down to ten men, before they won the Carabao Cup on penalties at Wembley on Sunday against Chelsea.

Guardiola was therefore quick to praise his players as they maintained the pressure on Liverpool at the top of the Premier league, despite the extended game time over the last seven days.

In his post-match press conference Guardiola was asked about his team's display during the narrow victory over West Ham. 

PEP 💬 (The holding role is @IlkayGuendogan's) natural position.

When you play every three days it is demanding. Everybody needs a little break and we need everybody to help fight for all the titles still in our hands.

— Manchester City (@ManCity) February 27, 2019

Guardiola told Sky Sports: ""They made us work hard for the result but we played incredibly well. We created a lot of chances, so it's amazing to understand how it was just 1-0 and in the last minute, anything can happen.

"In the first five minutes, it could've been 2-0 easily. The longer it stays at 0-0 or 1-0 the more impatient you become but in general we defended so well.

"With the long balls to Carroll and to Antonio we applied ourselves very well and created a lot of chances. Unfortunately, we couldn't score more goals, after the 120 minutes against Chelsea, the team showed incredible spirit and we made a really good performance."

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City are still in the hunt for a historic quadruple, though the loss of influential pair Fernandinho and Aymeric Laporte to injury in the Carabao Cup win, in addition to long-term absentees John Stones and Gabriel Jesus, might prove impactful. 

City next face Bournemouth on Saturday afternoon on the south coast.