Pep Guardiola insists that the only factor his Manchester City side can truly control is their own level of performance, describing officiating decisions as a “flip of a coin.”
The manager has consistently called on his players to raise their game to overcome refereeing errors, following fresh controversy surrounding VAR after Callum Wilson’s late disallowed goal in West Ham’s 1-0 loss to Arsenal on Sunday. Referee Chris Kavanagh initially awarded the strike but was advised by VAR official Darren England to review the incident at the pitchside monitor, ultimately ruling it out for a foul on Arsenal goalkeeper David Raya.
Arsenal’s win moved them to 79 points, five ahead of City with two matches remaining. Even if Guardiola’s side win all three of their remaining fixtures—starting against Crystal Palace on Wednesday evening—they may still fall short of catching Mikel Arteta’s team.
Guardiola declined to comment directly on Wilson’s disallowed goal but argued that City lost the last two FA Cup finals, against Manchester United and Crystal Palace respectively, because “referees didn’t do their job, even the VAR.” In the 2024 final, Erling Haaland was not awarded a penalty after appearing to be pushed by Lisandro Martínez, and later a similar incident involving Kobbie Mainoo also went unpunished. In the 2025 final, Palace goalkeeper Dean Henderson handled the ball outside the box but received only a yellow card, as officials deemed he did not deny a clear goalscoring chance.
“The only thing we can do is do it better—that is only in your control,” Guardiola said. “We lost the two finals of the FA Cup because the referees didn’t do their jobs they should do, even the VAR. When this happens, it is because we have to do better, not the referees or VAR.”
“I never trust anything since I arrived [at City] a long time ago. Always I learned you have to do it better—be in a position to do it better because [if not] you blame yourself with what you have to do, because [VAR] is a flip of a coin. You have to do better and better for yourself, and that is focusing on Crystal Palace for us.”
“We play this game, then go to Bournemouth and the last game at Aston Villa. The important one is tomorrow, and we will see what happens in the next games. I always learned that when you lose focus, you are in a dangerous situation.”
Abdukodir Khusanov and Rodri are doubts for the Palace match due to injury. Rodri has been absent since sustaining a groin strain in last month’s win over Arsenal. When asked if the midfielder might miss next month’s World Cup, Guardiola replied: “No. Well, there is a chance if [Luis] de la Fuente [Spain’s head coach] doesn’t pick him. But we’ll take care of him.”