Pep Guardiola performs Man City Premier League title U-turn ahead of Liverpool clash
Manchester City travel to Anfield to play Liverpool on Sunday desperate to end their miserable run of form and close the eight-point gap that Arne Slot's side hold
Pep Guardiola has rowed back on his previous comments that Manchester City can wave goodbye to their Premier League title defence if they lose at Liverpool on Sunday.
City head to Anfield this weekend with their campaign in the balance following a miserable run of five defeats and one draw in all competitions. The defending champions find themselves eight points adrift of Premier League leaders Liverpool and staring at a possible 11-point gap if they suffer defeat.
In the aftermath of their shocking 4-0 defeat by Tottenham last weekend, Guardiola admitted that City's grip on the Premier League will be over if his side lose against Liverpool. City midfielder Ilkay Gundogan then made similar comments in the wake of the 3-3 draw against Feyenoord on Tuesday night.
But having taken stock of the current situation, and perhaps in less emotional circumstances, Guardiola has a different take now. Asked the same question in Friday’s pre-match press conference, he took the long view, insisting there is a lot of football left to play.
"In the situation we have it's not realistic to think about big targets," he said. "The situation is to think about one game and build the momentum to continue. Even in the situation we have been in in the past thinking about winning the titles was not realistic, we recovered.
"Liverpool are so powerful in all departments, especially the boxes. It will be difficult but in the situation that we are in, losing a lot of games in the row, and three in the Premier League, I always think about targets in March or April. It doesn't matter what happens on Sunday. It will be more difficult if we don't take a result on Sunday but there are many more games to play."
City surrendered a 3-0 lead, conceding three times in 15 minutes, to draw with Feyenoord in the Champions League in mid-week. They have been a shadow of their usual selves in recent weeks and Guardiola appears to be fostering a siege mentality in response.
HAVE YOUR SAY! Will Manchester City be out of the Premier League title race if they lose against Liverpool? Comment below.
Asked whether the current situation amounted to a crisis, he shot back: “Up to you, when you write it. We are second, not in a good moment with results. We play more than this but not enough to win games.
“I said many times, we have to live it as a club and players to give what we have done in the past. We will be back, I know it. I don't know when. You can judge the situation, when a team have control in the Premier League for many years, it's normal this goes on. Maybe the exception was the past and not now – how we stand up is the big success in life. How many times you stand up.”
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