Gundogan predicts Man City dominance after Guardiola's first Premier League title

Pep Guardiola's Manchester City have cruised to the Premier League title and Ilkay Gundogan thinks there could be more to come.

Published : Apr 17, 2018 05:07 IST

Ilkay Gundogan says more Premier League titles could follow for Manchester City after Pep Guardiola's side were crowned champions.

Manchester United's surprise home loss to bottom side West Brom on Sunday ensured they cannot catch their rivals City at the summit even though there are five games remaining.

Although Guardiola's men exited the Champions League at the quarter-final stage, the Catalan will end the season with two trophies after February's EFL Cup triumph against Arsenal.

And Gundogan has predicted further honours will be on the cards for City in the coming years if they can continue to deliver their devastating attacking football.

"Although some of our players have won it before, it's our first title as a group of players under the new manager," Gundogan told the City website.

"That step is always a difficult one but we have worked hard all season and we are delighted to achieve it. We have developed together and there is a lot of potential. What we all have to do now is to work hard and believe in our ability to keep succeeding.

"I think he [Pep] is one of the best coaches in the world and I'm really grateful to be able to work with him. But the competition in the Premier League is much harder than in Germany.

"We have five or six teams who are all able to win the league and that makes it incredibly difficult. But we are ambitious and we aim to win every game.

"If we continue with this mentality then there's no reason we can’t continue in this way. We [he and Pep] share our idea of the game."

Gundogan was on target in a 3-1 win at Wembley against Tottenham to put City on the brink of claiming the title but with United not expected to slump against West Brom, the Germany international went to see former club Borussia Dortmund take on Schalke in the Bundesliga's Ruhr derby.

"I didn't get to watch the United game," Gundogan added. "We'd been given a few days off by the manager and so I travelled over to Germany to watch the Schalke v Dortmund game.

"I was still in the stadium with my cousin and uncle enjoying dinner after the game when news came through. Schalke v Dortmund is obviously a pretty big deal in Germany and the most important derby in the Bundesliga so it was great to be there.

"I'd made my plans as soon as I realised that it wouldn't interfere with our own matches, but it's fair to say I didn't expect to hear the news that United had lost.

"I spent a really nice evening with my family and friends at home. It was a great moment for me - my first Premier League title. I'm obviously very happy. We have worked so hard for this and to win the title means so much to all of us having spent the season performing well.

"There were no big parties for me though. Everyone was getting in touch to congratulate each other in our team WhatsApp group. None of us really expect it to happen last night but it was great that it did and I know the whole team have been celebrating."

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