Ok, maybe small minded, but it's just those little things that everybody picks up subliminally (yes, I know Saints have scored by the way, not getting too excited until it's 4-0 in injury time):
Reds defeat would hand Man City the title.
Quote off the BBC website. Sports page heading.
Now if you were a complete neutral, indeed if you knew nothing whatsover about football, which club would you say is being addressed with more familiarity and – dare I say it – affection? “Reds” or “Man City”? (Not even City, you notice, although I'm sure Swansea, Leicester, and others will be pleased by that even-handedness).
These are tiny signs, but they are persistent and they accumulate unconsciously. This, perhaps, is why Pep gets the impression that the whole country supports them. He's wrong by the way, very wrong, but an outsider to the culture can easily get that impression — indeed, they cannot avoid it — by this sheer cumulative weight in the media.