Pep Guardiola makes admission as Man City prepare for Champions League race with Newcastle United

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Manchester City are in the race for the Champions League spots alongside Newcastle United.

Eddie Howe’s side are looking to return to Europe’s top competition after getting a taste of it during the 2023/24 campaign. The Magpies missed out on European football at the end of last season due to Manchester United’s FA Cup win, which booted them out of the Europa Conference League.

Newcastle United are currently sixth in the table but can move into the top four with a win against Manchester United on Sunday.

Newcastle players have spoken about Champions League ambitions, and they all agree that it is where they ‘need’ to be at the end of the season.

A positive for Howe is that his side has a game in hand over the likes of Chelsea and Man City around them, and they take Crystal Palace on Wednesday to level up the number of games played.

Pep Guardiola’s Man City side has struggled immensely at times this season. They are already out of the Champions League and can only win the FA Cup, with Liverpool leading the pack in the Premier League by some margin.

As defending Champions, Guardiola will be disappointed with how his team have played this season, but they can still end it on a high by reaching the Champions League.

With tensions high for the final few games of the season, Guardiola has written about how he really feels about their chances of finishing in the top five.

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Pep Guardiola sends message to Man City players amid Champions League race

Guardiola is a big fan of Newcastle. The Spaniard believes they, alongside the likes of Bournemouth and Liverpool, are evolving the way football is played in England.

He will be well aware that the Magpies pose a huge threat to their future in the Champions League `and will be saying the exact same to his players.

Previewing their game against Crystal Palace in Man City’s matchday programme, Guardiola said: “We know we have to win many games if we want to be back in the Champions League next season. We have to go for it.”

Man City are without Erling Haaland for the rest of the season, but they have the likes of former Newcastle target Omar Marmoush and Kevin de Bruyne who can come in for the striker.

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Crystal Palace do Newcastle United no favours against Man City

Man City played Palace at the Etihad Stadium in the early kick-off on Saturday. It looked like Palace were going to run away with the game when they took a two-goal lead with just over 20 minutes on the clock. However, Man City came back and took the lead a couple of minutes into the second half.

The game finished 5-2 in what is a minor blow to Newcastle’s Champions League hopes.

Man City’s goal difference is far superior to Newcastle’s, so if the table came down to it, the Magpies would end up being disappointed on the final day.

Newcastle beat Leicester 3-0 on Monday night to take their goal difference up to +13, but they are still way off what they need to match Man City’s +20 goal difference.

Howe can only hope that his players put in a memorable performance against Man United on Sunday and win their game in hand against Palace a few days later.