Jeremy Doku knows it is tough for teams to keep pace with Manchester City when they are firing on all cylinders, as he claimed Pep Guardiola’s team are not focusing on Arsenal’s form.
City beat Liverpool 3-0 on Sunday to mark Guardiola’s 1,000th game in management in style.
Doku starred, winning an early penalty, which was missed by Erling Haaland, before curling in a stunning strike in the second half.
The Belgian led City for shots (three), shots on target (three), touches in the opposition box (11), chances created (three), successful dribbles (seven) and duels won (11). He has provided three assists in the Premier League this season, which is also a team-high.
City’s victory propelled them into second place, four points behind Arsenal, who drew 2-2 with Sunderland on Saturday. According to Opta’s supercomputer, the Gunners have a 63.6% chance of winning the title, while there is a 22.9% probability of Guardiola’s team clinching the trophy.
Doku, though, said City are only focusing on their own performances, rather than concerning themselves with their title rivals.
“We’re just looking at ourselves,” Doku said, as reported by ESPN.
“We have been building and we know that we can still improve. The performance that we delivered, we’re very happy [with], but we still have to improve every game.
“We’re not really looking at Arsenal, though. What the other teams are doing, because at the end of the day, we know that it depends only on us.
“We know that if we are playing well, it’s difficult to stand next to us.”
Doku has already registered nine goal involvements (five goals, four assists) this season in all competitions. In each of his previous two seasons at City, he has recorded 15, while tallying six goals in each of 2023-24 and 2024-25.
The 23-year-old is averaging 0.36 goals and 0.26 expected goals (xG) per 90 this season, which are high marks across his City career.
“I just work to have more of that but I’m not a player that’s going to look after a game and say ‘you didn’t score, you didn’t assist, you had a bad game’,” Doku added.
“I’m not that type of player. A bad game is for me if I don’t touch the ball, if I’m not effective or if I lose a lot of balls, that’s a bad game.
“If I didn’t score today, would I have said this is a bad game? No, I would have said this is a good game. That’s how I am and how I’m going to be.”