Kelechi Iheanacho scored his sixth of the season in the 3-0 win over Hull City on Boxing Day, and Sergio Aguero, the club’s top scorer, is set to return from suspension for the trip to Liverpool on New Year’s Eve.
Throw in Brazilian sensation Gabriel Jesus, who will arrive from Palmeiras in January, and Guardiola has three top-class strikers to choose from in the new year.
Guardiola praised Iheanacho for his impact against Hull and said he is pleased with his options going forward.
“Of course, we needed [Iheanacho’s] goal,” he said after victory at the KCOM Stadium. “He didn’t play from the beginning but he has this talent, this quality and with Kun coming back – we cannot forget we played seven games without Kun in all competitions.
“Now Gabriel Jesus is coming so we will have of course three strikers who can sense a goal. And of course this is so important in a game like this.”
The result moved City up to second in the Premier League table – but they remain seven points adrift of leaders Chelsea and third-placed Liverpool could go back above the Blues if they beat Stoke City this evening.
With Chelsea having already secured their win over Bournemouth before City took to the field at the KCOM, the pressure was firmly on.
Guardiola admits Chelsea’s form makes winning the title a difficult proposition but says there’s plenty that can change between now and the end of the season.
“Yeah, sometimes you play before sometimes late,” Guardiola said.
“But it doesn’t matter when one team won 12 games in a row. It was like a final for us if you want to be there until the end of the season.
“The season is still long. It’s one game to finish the first round after that we start the second one. A lot of things are going to happen.
“When Liverpool years ago were so, so close to winning the Premier League, they play just one game a week. Leicester last season the same. This year Chelsea and Liverpool.
“We play seven games more than them in important games like the Champions League.
“That’s why it will be tough. But you have to make absolutely everything to be there and after that football is unpredictable and sometimes you believe something is done and it’s not done.”
