The reigning champions’ game with Brighton and Hove Albion will decide the Premier League title race, but their captain wants a “simple” focus.
Vincent Kompany has urged Manchester City to ignore the bigger picture when they face Brighton and Hove Albion in Sunday’s Premier League title decider.
City head to Brighton knowing that a victory would see them retain the league title, seeing off Liverpool’s challenge.
Anything less than a win, though, would open the door for the Reds, who face Wolves at Anfield and are only one point behind the champions.
Three-time Premier League winner Kompany, though, insists Pep Guardiola’s side must put those permutations out of their minds when they take to the field.
“You try to avoid putting too much context to the game,” Kompany, who scored a sensational winner against Leicester City on Monday, told Sky Sports.
“Context being all the possible scenarios that can happen and the fact that it’s the most important game of the season and you can win the Premier League, which is not nothing.
“It feels like every [title win] that came before. You have to think about the simple things, such as Brighton having a bunch of strengths and weaknesses and have to find a way to deal with the strengths and exploit the weaknesses.
“You need to make sure you are in good form on the day: eat well, sleep well and play. I don’t think about it one second, I just have it in my head that we will go over there and have a good game.
“In terms of probability we are more likely to win if we play well because of the quality we have in the team. All these other scenarios are irrelevant to me at this point.”
City are in the hunt for a domestic treble, having won the EFL Cup and with an FA Cup final to come, and victory over Brighton would see them finish the season with 98 points – just two fewer than they gained last season.
“No matter what happens on the final day, we’ve had a tremendous season in the Premier League and our performances have been ever so consistent,” Kompany added.
“But, historically, we’ve always thrown away the season after winning the league. This year we are in contention, we are in a final until the end of the season and that’s all you can hope for.
“It’s a final, but that’s all you can hope for, that feeling of not throwing away a season because you’re resting on your laurels.
“That is how City fans have always perceived City and how City have been perceived over the years, way before I came to the club.”
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