It's a dream come true - Guardiola.

Manchester City have an opportunity to a beautiful treble this season, with the English Premier League, FA Cup, and UEFA Champions League titles up for grabs.

And the Cityzens boss, Pep Guardiola, says the situation they are in is a dream come true.

Man City put Everton to the sword on Sunday afternoon, beating them 3-0 at Goodison Park to earn their 11th straight win.

With Arsenal having lost to Brighton, City only needs three points to win the EPL title for the third time in a row.

"It’s a dream come true being here," Guardiola told amp.mancity. com. https://mancity.com/citytv/mens/pep-guardiola-post-everton-press-conference-63819686

"At the end we might not get the trophies and people will say they are not a good team or a failure or a disaster but it’s a dream come true.

"We are the only team in Europe fighting for all competitions, (there is the) FA Cup final with United but still it’s not over, the Premier League never ends, we know it for the past with Liverpool. This season is the same.

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"Arsenal I’m pretty sure will win the two games in hand but being in the semi-final at home with our people at the second leg to try to get to the UEFA Champions League final... it’s an extraordinary achievement."

We have to live with the emotion - Arteta.

Arsenal boss, Mikel Arteta has apologized to the Gunners supporters after the club virtually handed the English Premier League title to Manchester City following their 3-0 defeat to Brighton & Hove Albion on Sunday afternoon at the Emirates Stadium. 

Arsenal had a second half from hell against Brighton, and Arteta has admitted it was nowhere near his team's normal performance standards.

"First of all we have to apologise. Last week we were really proud and we stood with our chest out after the performance against Newcastle, and today we have to apologise for what happened in that second half. That is nowhere near the level that we have to show as a team and as a club," Arteta told www.arsenal.com

"At first, it was extremely competitive and we expected that, there were a lot of interruptions in the game and we were a little thrown. We had some big opportunities after regaining the ball very high up the pitch, and then the second half was a different story. 

"We started to lose a lot of duels, and obviously the way we conceded the goals is just unacceptable that this level, and after that we had no answers to get back into the game.

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Arteta says Arsenal will have to live with the painful emotion of losing the title right at the death.

"We have to live with the emotion that we have right now that we fell short and it wasn’t good enough. We’re going to have to use that to play the next game at a very different pace and quality."

Arsenal hands City EPL title after 3-0 loss to Brighton.

  image: Fabrizio Romano Facebook

Arsenal have all but handed the English Premier League title to Manchester City on a silver platter after losing to Brighton & Hove Albion on Sunday afternoon at the Emirates Stadium.

Following The Gunners defeat, Man City are now four points ahead at the top, with a game in hand, and need just three points to clinch the title.

In only their second home defeat of the season, Arsenal were uncharacteristically poor against Brighton, failing to get any rhythm going in their play.

Instead, it was Brighton who enjoyed most of the ball, averaging 59% possession.

In terms of creating goal scoring opportunities, as scrappy as their play was, Arsenal did manage to fashion 14 goal attempts, but only two of their shots were on target, a stat that tells a story of their bad day at the office.

Brighton had six shots on target, with three of them converted to goals by Julio Enciso 51', Deniz Undav 86', and Pervis Estupinan 90+6.

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For Arsenal, who were in touching distance of the EPL title not so long ago, it is now a case of so near, and yet so far.

Losing the title at the death after such a magnificent season is heartbreaking, but comes with valuable lessons for Mikel Arteta and his men.

As for Brighton, a spot in Europe is still very much a possibility.

Every game is like a final now - Gundogan.

Ilkay Gundogan was the star of the show as Manchester City beat Everton 3-0 at Goodison Park on Sunday afternoon to move within six points of clinching their third English Premier League title in a row.

In a game where Man City didn't create a lot of chances, with just nine goal attempts, Gundogan's brace, 37', 51' and Erling Haaland's 36th goal scored in the 39th minute saw City turning their four shots on target into three goals.

The Cityzens have now gone 22 games unbeaten across competitions.

Gundogan says every game they play now is like a final.

"It’s the end of the season now so every game is crucial. Every game is like a final now," Gundogan told City website.

"For the last three years, this place [Goodison Park] has always been very tough for us. Even more so now. We feel like this is a big win."

On his goals and the assist for Haaland.

"I felt that I was free [first goal]. Both centre-backs were focused on Erling [Haaland].

"I saw the space. The ball was a little bit behind my run. I had to adjust and somehow, I was able to take a touch, I tried my luck and it worked out perfectly."

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Gundogan is counting on their experience when it comes to intense title races to pull City through.

"We have a very experienced team. It’s not really a new situation for us, competing for the last few games of the season with someone else," 

"The margin for mistakes is very slim, we know that. I think that we were able to live these moments in the past helps us a lot.

"Sometimes, you have to stay calm and trust your abilities. Even though it was tough today in the first half, that is exactly what we did."

We have a small minimal advantage - Riveiro on CAFCL spot race.

After their 1-1 draw against Sekhukhune United on Saturday afternoon, Orlando Pirates now have SuperSport United breathing down their necks in the race for the CAF Champions League spot.

Both teams are on 51 points heading towards match day 30, with Pirates second by virtue of a better goal difference.

Always sober minded in his comments, Orlando Pirates coach, Jose Riveiro says they only have a small advantage over SuperSport in the CAFCL spot race, and they have no choice but to put AmaZulu to the sword in Durban next weekend.

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"We need to win. Firstly, it's going to be a difficult game, away. AmaZulu is an excellent team so we need to think about how we are going to win the game. It's the last game of the season. So we need to win, we need the three points," said Riveiro as quoted by SABC Sport. https://www.sabcsport.com/soccer/news/victory-the-only-way-to-secure-champions-league-spot-jose-riveiro

"We have a small minimal advantage but if you think about the scenario three months ago and the advantage that our opposition had in that moment, I think we can be proud of the performance of the team in the last part of the season."

While Pirates will visit AmaZulu for their last game of the season, SuperSport have a tricky fixture of their own away to Sekhukhune United. 

Arthur Zwane, the proverbial sacrificial lamb.

The ugly scenes at Royal Bafokeng Stadium on Saturday afternoon after Kaizer Chiefs were beaten 1-0 by SuperSport United were uncalled for, but they have been bubbling under for sometime.

The game of football, from a fan's point of view, is more a game of emotions than logic, unfortunately for Zwane, the emotional pain of some Chiefs fans was directed at him, wrongfully so, instead of the people who should be feeling the wrath of the supporters.

Zwane, as much as he is no Jesus, is being crucified for the sins of others, Chiefs management that is.

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The fact is, Kaizer Chiefs will not win games/trophies, just because they are the once feared giants, they can't keep riding on the past success carried by their name.

Success demands the right systems and processes to be put in place in order for it to find fertile ground to grow on.

Unfortunately, at Chiefs, that fertile ground is non-existent.

One only has to look at a team like Mamelodi Sundowns as a template, look at their technical team, including analysts and specialist coaches like the highly qualified and experienced Michael Loftman who deals with set-pieces.

And look at the investment they have made to ensure they have a quality squad.

Now take a look at Chiefs and tell me what you see.

The reality is Chiefs deserve to be fourth or lower on the log, because the quality of their team as a whole dictates that, not coach Arthur Zwane.

When Chiefs lose to SuperSport, they are losing to their peers when it comes to squad quality, period.

Zwane, unfortunately, is on the frontline, and on Saturday afternoon, he took the bullets for a team that is still crawling while the football world is running, leaving it behind marveling at the past glory carried by its name. 

I thought we were excellent - Mokwena.

Mamelodi Sundowns kept their hopes of reaching the CAF Champions League final alive when they held Wydad AC to a 0-0 draw on Saturday night at the Stade Mohammed V.

The result left the 2nd leg, to be played in Pretoria next week, in a delicate situation.

A draw with goals will see Sundowns knocked out of the CAFCL.

Nonetheless, Sundowns coach, Rulani Mokwena, thought his side were excellent in Morocco.

Despite managing only a six goal attempts, with a single shot on target, Sundowns put on a controlled tactical performance that saw them limiting Wydad to just 11 goal attempts, with two on target, playing with 10 men in the second half.

"I thought before the red card we were very good, we scored, there were moments where we had 65% ball possessions – here [at Stade Mohamed V]," said Mokwena after the match as quoted by iDiski Times. https://www.idiskitimes.co.za/caf-champions-league/mokwena-rebuffs-criticism-after-cafcl-first-leg/

"I thought we were excellent actually, contrary to your statement. That’s why I give so much, so much praise to the players. They know it’s only half-time, so we keep our feet firmly on the ground."

Going into next weekend's second leg, Mokwena is counting on the Sundowns supporters, and home ground advantage to push the team to the final.

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"We’re still focussed on second leg in Pretoria. We know that we will also have the ammunition also behind us, we will have a stadium that now knows how to play Champions League matches and push this team."