Pep Guardiola has explained the reason for Manchester City’s resurgence as they push for the Premier League title.

The win lifts City to 64 points from 31 games, cutting the deficit to leaders Arsenal—who have 70 points from 32 matches—to just six points, ramping up the title race in the closing stages of the campaign.

Asked why Manchester City have been in such fine form in the final stages of the season, Pep Guardiola joked: “The sun! If it had been shining in November, we’d have been league champions by January… No, I’m joking, of course. In Manchester, the sun doesn’t shine very often.”

Looking ahead to next Sunday’s 32nd-round clash with Arsenal in the Premier League, he added: “That game will feel like a final for both teams, but there is a tactical detail we need to review, so we may make some adjustments.

“Everyone is talking about the Arsenal game, but matches against Brentford, Bournemouth and the other sides are just as important. The season is still long.”

Guardiola added “We’re in better shape, and in training everyone knows exactly what they have to do. We’ve faced three strong opponents, three Champions League teams. We didn’t put in a complete performance for the full 90 minutes, but we were organised enough, didn’t concede many chances, and our attacking threat was always there.”

Pep Guardiola

He added:One of our secrets as a club and a system is that, after one success after another, we have remained humble and have always asked ourselves: what must we do to stay at the top? Winning once or twice is normal, but to remain at the top for nine years—with the exception of last season—reflects the strength of the entire system.”

After trimming the gap to six points with a game in hand, Doku emphasized that City is confident, focused, and ready for the final.

“Obviously, three points here, in a tough game, we did very well. We needed those three points,” Doku told the club’s website.

“So we’re just going to keep on going, keep on going. We know that we still have everything in our hands. We’re going to recover well and we look forward to the game on Sunday.

“Coming here is not easy, playing here against Chelsea in their stadium is not easy. We just had to keep on going.

“We adapted our pressing a bit and more runs in behind, that opens more spaces. The way we started the second half also put a lot of pressure on them. In those moments when you can score it helps a lot.”

Real Madrid has stated that rumors on considering incorporating a sports director into its structure are categorically false.

According to Fabrizio Romano’s X post on Friday, the club was quoted as saying, “Real Madrid extraordinarily values the work that the club’s sports management has been carrying out, which has allowed us to live through one of the most successful periods in our entire history with the achievement of numerous titles, including 6 European Cups in ten years.”

It strongly reaffirm confidence in its current sporting management structure.

It also praise the existing leadership, crediting it for one of the most successful eras in the club’s history.

As evidence, they point to major achievements, including six UEFA Champions League titles in the last decade.

Overall, it’s a standard club statement aimed at shutting down speculation while reinforcing trust in their current internal setup.

Madrid have long operated with a distinct organisational model, where key transfer and sporting decisions are primarily overseen by senior executives and trusted football leadership rather than a traditional sporting director structure common in many European clubs.

The club’s denial comes amid continued speculation in Spanish football media about potential internal changes, particularly as elite clubs across Europe increasingly adopt centralized sporting director systems to streamline recruitment and long-term squad planning.