‘Early title could affect us in CL’

Manchester City midfielder Ilkay Gundogan believes winning the Premier League title early might not be a good thing for the club’s Champions League ambitions as any drop in intensity could derail their European campaign. City, who won the League Cup last month, need a maximum of only four victories from their remaining nine league matches to wrap up their first top-flight title under Pep Guardiola. “I don’t know if it would be good to win the (Premier) league that early,” Gundogan told reporters. “Obviously we want to win it and, if we do, when that happens is not really in our hands. “If you are able to win the league quite early, you can lose that seriousness for the Champions League, maybe.”