Julian Alvarez has called for a whole team effort as Manchester City enter a run of nine 'finals' in their bid to win three trophies this season.
City showcased their quality and also their grit at Fulham to edge a tight contest on Sunday and return to the top of the Premier League for the first time since February. The Blues know that if they win their final six games of the season they will be champions for a third year in succession.
With Alvarez winning a penalty at Fulham and scoring the winner with a brilliant curling effort, he will be hoping for more game-time in the run-in. After the game, Pep Guardiola admitted he may have to find a way to play Alvarez in the same system as Erling Haaland and Kevin De Bruyne - rather than instead of one of them.
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Haaland's penalty was his 50th of the season, as well as the goal that equalled the record for most goals in a Premier League season. While Alvarez knew his teammate would dispatch the spot kick to make history, however, he did remind his teammates that they cannot rely on Haaland to get them over the line in the title race.
"It’s very important to have such a dangerous forward. I had a lot of confidence in Erling," Alvarez said.
"He takes a lot of our penalties - he’s been scoring the majority of our goals this season. We also have a lot of other players who can take them - it’s good for everyone to keep getting confident and to continue this good run. It’s on the whole team to be able to help throughout every phase of play so we need to keep that going."
Continuing his calls for unity in the squad, Alvarez noted that the mindset now must change from chasing Arsenal to now defending their lead. While Arsenal can return to the top with victory over Chelsea on Tuesday, City play their first of two games in hand on Wednesday so can claim the lead outright come full-time against West Ham.
"We’re in a great position - this is where we wanted to be at the start of the season," he said. "Everyone has put in really good work. We’ve got a lot of confidence. Every game from now on is a final for us so we’re going to keep working and focusing on every match to come. We have to defend our lead at the top and everyone is going to pull together."
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