Pep Guardiola claims Manchester City are in the position he "dreamed" of at the beginning of the season as he urged Kevin De Bruyne and Jack Grealish to keep them top of the Premier League.
It remains a nip-and-tuck title race, but Guardiola is more than happy with City's standing within that battle for silverware after they nudged into top spot with victory at Arsenal.
He insists Arsenal remain firmly in the hunt but would have settled for this situation, being confident his City team can apply a kick finish and leave their rivals scrapping over second place.
Manchester United could yet have a big say in the destiny of the title, being just five points adrift, but City and Arsenal are the frontrunners for now, locked on 51 points.
"Arsenal still have one game in hand, so nothing has changed much," Guardiola said initially at Friday's press conference ahead of the weekend trip to Nottingham Forest.
He later pointed to City's mindset in Premier League campaigns and their view that nothing is won early in the season.
The gap to Arsenal reached eight points at one stage, but it has been clawed back, with the Gunners suffering a dip in form.
City have the scent of a third successive Premier League title and a fifth in six seasons.
"We were aware we had to put the shoes on again and try to be close to the top of the league, and now we are there, we are close," Guardiola said.
"There are still 15 games left, a lot of games, but we want to arrive at the last eight, 10 games, being there, close, top or close to the top of the league."
Guardiola added: "We have to make the last rush, the last effort. The last weeks have helped us, for the results of Arsenal but especially for the victories we have done.
"We are in the position I would have dreamed at the beginning of the season.
"I could not expect to be a lot of points in front; after winning back to back, it's almost impossible."
All the same, Guardiola is not buying into talk of City momentum.
"Momentum is where you win 10 games in a row, and that didn't happen this season. We lost three games ago in London against Tottenham, so momentum is tomorrow at 3pm be ready mentally against a team who have lost one game in their last six," he said.
De Bruyne and Grealish, City's midfield pearls, both scored in the 3-1 win at Arsenal on Wednesday.
Neither man has been guaranteed a start, with De Bruyne notably benched for the Tottenham game.
But Guardiola spoke of the influence both can now have, hailing Grealish's "ambition and his aggressivity" to attack defences.
"The quality was always there but his commitment to take a risk in important decisions is making the difference. But he has to continue," Guardiola said.
It was a similar message for De Bruyne, whose form Guardiola described as "really good".
"It's like Jack and like everyone, I'm so pleased for everyone, but I want more," Guardiola said. "So I still have the feeling Kevin can do more, Jack can do more and can do better.
"They can do it. Of course, he made a fantastic goal, but I know the demands we have here until the end of the season and a tough and aggressive opponent, and we need the players to have the feeling we can do better."
The manager also said it was healthy for City's players sometimes to have discussions without him present.
"It's good," Guardiola said, "because at the end they play, and they are the artists, and they have to take the solutions and decisions and everything that is going on on the pitch, and I cannot be involved in that."
Sessegnon rejoins boyhood club Fulham after Tottenham departure
Ryan Sessegnon has resigned for Fulham on a free transfer, five years after leaving the club.
The 24-year-old signed a two-year contract with the Cottagers with the option to extend for a further year following his departure from Tottenham last month.
In his first spell at the club, Sessegnon worked his way through the academy over 11 years, scoring 25 goals in 120 first-team appearances.
He then moved to Spurs in a £25million deal in 2019, though struggled to nail down a place in North London, making just 57 appearances in all competitions, and scoring three goals.
"It's amazing to be back. Emotional, as well," he told FFCtv. "It's where it started for me, where everything began, and it's amazing to be back.
"It will always be home for me. I think it had the feeling that it was meant to be, coming back here, so I'm delighted to get it done."
Sessegnon is Fulham's first signing of the transfer window, though they have seen plenty of first-team departures already, with Joao Palhinha, Tosin Adarabioyo and Bobby De Cordova-Reid all leaving the club.
Ederson slams reports of rift with Man City backup Ortega
Ederson has hit out at reports of a rift between himself and fellow Manchester City goalkeeper Stefan Ortega.
The Brazilian was substituted after suffering a fractured eye socket in City's penultimate game of the Premier League season, a vital 1-0 win over Tottenham.
Ortega replaced him and made a brilliant save to deny Son Heung-min as City maintained their slender lead over Arsenal at the top of the table, sealing an unprecedented fourth straight title by beating West Ham five days later.
Ortega was widely lauded for his role in that triumph, and an article published by The Athletic this week suggested Ederson took issue with that praise.
However, the goalkeeper – who missed the Copa America as a result of his injury – has now moved to shut down those suggestions with a post to his Instagram story.
"I would like to clarify that the note published by The Athletic yesterday, referring to my alleged dissatisfaction with a co-worker, is completely false," he wrote.
"The alleged day reported was, without a doubt, one of the most difficult days of my career, when I suffered a fracture that prevented me from playing in the final stretch of the season and, consequently, from representing my country in the Copa America.
"At the time of the injury, my only thought was to continue in the match, defending City in the fight for the title.
"But the emotion of the match would be greater than the reality and, inevitably, I would not be able to continue as I would have liked due to the damage it caused, completely blocking my field of vision. I remain focused on preparing for the season."
Ederson has been linked with a transfer in recent days, reportedly attracting interest from Saudi Pro League clubs.
McAllister cannot see Klopp or Guardiola succeeding Southgate
Gary McAllister finds it hard to believe that either Jurgen Klopp or Pep Guardiola will succeed Gareth Southgate as England manager.
Southgate, who led England to back-to-back European Championship finals, ended his eight-year tenure following their defeat to Spain in the Euro 2024 showpiece.
The 53-year-old was often accused of a cautious approach despite only Walter Winterbottom (383) and Alf Ramsey (224) overseeing more England goals than his 213, with supporters wanting to see a more attack-minded manager take over.
And two of the names linked with the vacant position have been pioneers of Premier League football in recent years.
Klopp ended his nine-year stay at Liverpool in May to take a break from management, while some expect Guardiola to leave Manchester City at the end of his current deal, which expires next year.
The pair have won 653 games between them and shared 25 major honours during their time in England and could be seen as the ideal candidates to end the Three Lions' 58-year wait for silverware.
However, former Liverpool and Scotland midfielder McAllister believes Klopp and Guardiola are unlikely to become England's next manager.
McAllister, who played 57 times for his nation, believes supporters would prefer an English manager at the helm.
"I think people are linking Jurgen with the England job purely because he has experience working in the English Premier League," McAllister told Stats Perform.
"He's worked with elite players for many years now at Dortmund and at Liverpool. So people are putting two and two together.
"Personally, I don't see it happening and I think I also see that there were links to Pep Guardiola and I don't see Pep managing England either.
"It's hard for me to comment on this because I'm obviously not English, I'm Scottish.
"The people I speak to within the game, there is a feeling that the manager of England should come from St George's Park, which is the headquarters of English football, the FA and all the coaching programmes that they have there.
"Why would you have all this and then put a manager not from England in? I think most of the people in England are looking for an English manager."
The Three Lions' next game is a Nations League clash with the Republic of Ireland in September, with Finland their next opponents three days later.
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