Pep Guardiola fires strong warning to Man City ahead of Aston Villa clash

Pep Guardiola has urged his Manchester City squad to treat Tuesday's Premier League clash with Aston Villa as "a final" as they look to take a step forward in their bid to qualify for the Champions League.

England's top five will book a spot in Europe's top competition next season. While Liverpool and Arsenal are certanties to qualify, just two points separate the five sides between third and seventh: Newcastle United, Man City, Chelsea, Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa.

The stakes are clear and Guardiola is under no illusion as to the difficulty of facing Villa, who recently followed up a 3-2 win over Paris Saint-Germain by demolishing fellow contenders Newcastle 4-1.

"They are a contender to qualify for the Champions League," Guardiola said ahead of the match. You see the game they played against my friend Luis Enrique [PSG manager] - wow, I was really, really impressed.

"They can play low block and play away, but when they decide to go, with the weapons they have, the speed they have, the set-pieces, they are incredibly well organised.

"It is a final and we need our people because I think our people want the Champions League next season again and hopefully they can help us from the first minute. Sometimes we are sloppy, sometimes we are not playing good, now we need them desperately to support us, to make noise and be there all the time because it's absolutely a final for us."

City have a favourable run of fixtures to round out the season after Tuesday's meeting with Villa. A resurgent Wolverhampton Wanderers will be followed by bottom side Southampton and European hopefuls Bournemouth, before they end the season away at Fulham.

Mixed into that is an FA Cup run, beginning this weekend against Forest. A final against Villa could await if Emery's side beat Crystal Palace in their own semi-final.

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