Pep Guardiola makes views clear on 'excellent' Crystal Palace star who has been linked with exit

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has been speaking ahead of his side’s clash with Crystal Palace on Saturday. City are in the midst of an intense top five battle that will likely turn into a top five battle given England is on course to secure a fifth Champions League spot.

Pretty much all of the teams in the top four have found themselves in wobbly form of late, with Chelsea somehow holding on to fourth place. But with seven games remaining, the race is hotting up, and it now feels as though each of the teams involved is heading into a stretch where they can ill-afford slip-ups.

Meanwhile, Palace are just two points off the top half of the table, and Oliver Glasner will see the top half as a reward for the progress made this season, providing they can manage it. The Eagles have been tricky customers for many big clubs this season, and City will be well aware of the dangers the London side pose.

In fact, Guardiola went as far as singling out one star Palace performer in Adam Wharton, saying: “An excellent holding midfielder. He was in the national team already. The impact has been really good, coming from the Championship to the Premier League, brilliant left foot, a really good player."

Wharton has attracted interest ahead of the summer, according to a number of reports, with the midfielder linked with a move to Man City. Football Insider have previously claimed that Guardiola could make a move for the England international this summer.

Speaking about City’s top four battle, he added: “If you want to be in the Champions League next season and play Tuesday, Wednesday, you have to win almost all the games.

"Now it’s not very complicated. We don’t have 15, 20 games, now we have seven games left. It’s a final every single game. We have to win a lot of games to qualify, because Newcastle play just one game a week, and the quality of Aston Villa, and all the teams are involved, Chelsea and Nottingham [Forest]."

Palace eyeing history

Palace are eyeing history this weekend, heading to the Etihad Stadium with the chance of going 11 Premier League games unbeaten. Asked about that potential feat, Glasner told the club website: “It’s not just the away form, but the whole form - all of the performances, the results, over the last few months have given us confidence. We have a huge respect for Man City, because they're a great team, they have maybe the best manager in the last decade in the Premier League.

“But we're going there with confidence and our approach is not to go home unbeaten. Our approach is to win the game. If at the end it's a draw, we accept the draw, but we go there and want to win the game.

“We know how they're playing, we know it's a great team with great football players. In the last two games, they didn't concede a goal, so they’ve kept two clean sheets. We're seeing that they are getting more consistency in their defending structure, and that they also have some players back after a longer time, but of course, if we want to win, we have to score a goal, at least one, and this is what we'll go for.”

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