City's Guardiola shrugs off tightening title race, saying 12 games is an eternity

Feb 20 : The title race is not on Pep Guardiola's mind, the Manchester City manager insisted before a crucial Premier League clash with Newcastle United, where a win will move City within two points of leaders Arsenal.

City, the only team in the English top division who have won their last two matches, will be boosted by the return of forward Erling Haaland and winger Savinho as they continue the hunt for their seventh league title under Guardiola.

"Many things are going to happen until the end of the season," Guardiola told reporters on Friday as City, who have 12 matches left in their campaign, sat five points below Arsenal with a game in hand.

"I did not talk about the table. I could not care less ... 12 games is an eternity. That's the only truth I have."

Guardiola nodded when asked if Haaland, who leads the league with 22 goals, was fit to face Newcastle on Saturday after missing the last two games due to an injury.

Winger Savinho, who has been out for nearly seven weeks with a thigh injury, is also ready to play again, Guardiola said.

Guardiola said City, who have won six league titles since 2017-18, do not have an advantage due to their recent experience of winning the trophy.

"Seventy percent of the players are new so they don't have this experience. An experience is to win tomorrow, this is the only one," he said.

Commenting on Real Madrid forward Vinicius Jr's allegation of facing racist abuse at Benfica during the Champions League, Guardiola said racism was a major problem in society, not just in football.

"There is a lot of work to do ... racism is everywhere," he said.