Jérémy Doku has said Manchester City are not paying attention to Arsenal‘s form after announcing themselves in the Premier League title race by beating Liverpool, but insisted few teams will be able to keep pace with Pep Guardiola’s side if they keep hitting their top form.
City demolished Liverpool 3-0 at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday with Doku playing a starring role. Guardiola said afterwards that the result “proved” City are ready to challenge for the title.
And while Doku said he is not focused on leaders Arsenal, he believes Mikel Arteta’s side — who are four points clear — will struggle to keep up if City keep playing like they did against Liverpool.
“We’re just looking at ourselves,” Doku said.
“We have been building and we know that we can still improve. The performance that we delivered [against Liverpool] we’re very happy, 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. And we know that if we are playing well, it’s difficult to stand next to us.”
Doku is enjoying his best season at City since arriving from Rennes in 2023.
The 23-year-old has got three goals already — including his stunner against Liverpool — which is only five behind his season-best tally of eight.
He’s already on course to break that mark, but the Belgium international insists he’s not focused on numbers.
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“I don’t do that, because I think those come from themselves,” Doku said.
“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.’
“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.”
