Pep Guardiola celebrated his first Premier League title, following Manchester City’s goalless draw with Huddersfield Town on Sunday, by immediately turning his attention to defending the trophy next season.
The demanding City manager brought seven of his coaching staff onto the podium for his post-match press conference, a symbolic nod towards a close-knit group that has masterminded one of the most dominant league performances in history.
Despite surprisingly failing to defeat struggling visitors Huddersfield, City still have two games left in which they can set new Premier League records for the most wins, points and goals in a single campaign.
That target still inspires Guardiola, but so too does the prospect of trying to win the league title again next season.
“We cannot deny it would be nice to set records but it’s nicer when you win the Premier League,” said Guardiola.
“We spoke about that, these targets help to be focused, we tried and it’s so difficult,” he added.
“It looks easy when you have to win games, but next season will be tougher, they’ll all want to beat us and we have to be focused. we have to understand how difficult it will be next season.”
Guardiola has only one season remaining on the three-year contract he signed at City in the summer of 2016.
The Catalan said before the Huddersfield game he was in no hurry to sign an extended deal but after leading City to their third title since 2012, Guardiola insisted he is happy in Manchester.
