Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has suggested that Chelsea and Liverpool have an advantage in this season's title race due to their lack of European football.
Neither side managed to qualify for the Champions League or Europa League last season, leaving them with the Premier League as their only major concern in a regular week.
The extra rest appears to be doing both sides good, with Chelsea and Liverpool occupying the top two spaces in the table prior to the Boxing Day fixtures, and Guardiola admits that it will be tough to keep pace with them.
"Sometimes you play before [Chelsea], sometimes later - but it doesn't matter when one team has won 12 in a row. It's like a final for us if you want to be there until the end of the season," he told reporters.
Liverpool went so close one year because they had one game a week and last year, for Leicester, it happened the same. This time Chelsea and Liverpool are the ones. We have played seven more than them - and important games like the Champions League - which is why it will be tough.
"But football is unpredictable. We have to do absolutely everything to be there. Sometimes when you believe something is done it isn't. What we have to do is win every game and analyse and see if that is enough."
Man City beat Hull City 3-0 at the KCOM Stadium this evening to leapfrog Liverpool into second place - at least until the Reds face Stoke City tomorrow night.
Barney Corkhill
