Pep Guardiola takes swipe at pundits who wrote off Man City

straight to your inboxLee Dixon has questioned how Pep Guardiola would fare if he had to manage lesser players after Manchester City moved 10 points clear at the top of the Premier League table.Guardiola is a world-renowned manager due to his tactical insight, detailed coaching, and development of individual players and systemic styles and approaches.However, his first first-team job was at Barcelona. He then moved to Bayern Munich before arriving in Manchester.

straight to your inboxIlkay Gundogan says Phil Foden's recent form is proof that Pep Guardiola should be trusted to manage and make decisions his way.Guardiola has led Manchester City to top spot in the Premier League despite a number of injuries in key areas at various points of the season, particularly in attack.Gundogan has replaced the goals of Sergio Aguero in recent weeks, with 11 strikes in 12 Premier League appearances, while Foden has also produced some influential performances across

straight to your inboxPep Guardiola has seen enough from Liverpool to still consider them title rivals. Manchester City are 13 points ahead of the Premier League champions with a game in hand after they beat Tottenham 3-0 hours after Liverpool had collapsed to a 3-1 defeat at Leicester.

direct to your inboxArsene Wenger thinks it's 'impossible' for Liverpool to catch Manchester City this season and has backed Pep Guardiola's side for the Premier League title.City picked up a superb 4-1 victory over the reigning champions last weekend to extend their advantage to 10 points with a game in-hand. Manchester United are in second-place, five points behind their neighbours, but have also played a game more.

straight to your inboxWhen Pep Guardiola, serial winner and excuse avoider, started whingeing that four minutes of added time is not enough, against the team second from bottom, the depth of the problem became apparent.Manchester City were down in ninth place after that stultifying 1-1 draw at home to West Bromwich Albion.They were not even in the conversation when the destiny of the Premier League title was discussed, and there was even talk among the more impatient Blues of the manager’s time

straight to your inboxThe Champions League defeat will always be the most agonising but Pep Guardiola has rarely enjoyed facing Tottenham during his time as Manchester City manager. Mauricio Pochettino was the first to inflict Premier League defeat upon him with a 2-0 defeat at White Hart Lane sounding alarm bells for the new coach about how ill-equipped his side were to challenge.

straight to your inboxPep Guardiola called Tommy Doyle a 'special' player, but picked out an incident in Manchester City's win over Swansea as an area for improvement.Doyle, City's under-23 captain, started in the FA Cup fourth round tie at Cheltenham last month, and was included in the travelling party to face Swansea on Wednesday.

straight to your inboxKevin De Bruyne has returned to individual training as he continues to recover from injury.Manchester City have been without their talisman for the last five games since picking up an injury in the 2-0 win over Aston Villa three weeks ago.

straight to your inboxJurgen Klopp sounded on Friday like a man who was getting in his excuses ahead of Liverpool's title crunch with Manchester City.The Anfield manager's crass - and untrue - comments about the Blues having a two-week "Covid break" which had helped their push to the top of the table, sparked some sharp responses from his opposite number.It surprised and puzzled Pep Guardiola, who said he had thought the German was "not that type of manager".The City boss promised to question

straight to your inboxJoleon Lescott and Peter Crouch disagreed with suggestions that Manchester City's win over Burnley was 'boring' after extending their winning run to 13 matches.City scored two first-half goals as they beat Burnley 2-0 at Turf Moor, with Gabriel Jesus and Raheem Sterling getting on the scoresheet. Pep Guardiola 's side have now picked up 13 successive victories in all competitions as they look to reclaim the Premier League title from Liverpool.

straight to your inboxManchester City will have to try to win the Premier League without a prolific goalscorer this season, Pep Guardiola has come to accept.Sergio Aguero has suffered a number of setbacks in his attempts to return from a knee problem that kept him out of the beginning of the campaign, while Gabriel Jesus has just three league goals to his name after another frustrating season.

straight to your inboxPep Guardiola has labelled Manchester City captain Fernandinho as an 'authentic leader' and believes he is a great example for Rodri to follow in the defensive-midfield position. Despite suffering an injury setback at the start of the season, Fernandinho, 35, has enjoyed a brilliant return to form in recent weeks which may lead to his contract, which is set to expire in the summer, be extended once again.

straight to your inboxPep Guardiola has admitted that Manchester City star Bernardo Silva 'struggled' in the aftermath of his ban last season over an offensive tweet.Bernardo was suspended for one game in November, 2019, after he compared teammate Benjamin Mendy to a character on a packet of Conguitos chocolates in a social media post.

straight to your inboxPep Guardiola's first conversation with Aymeric Laporte after the Frenchman signed for Manchester City was eerily prophetic."You know Mendy don’t you?" Guardiola asked his relatively-unknown new record signing, seconds after photos of Laporte signing his contract were taken three years ago today."I’ve been playing with him six years in the national team," replied Laporte in Spanish."We really miss him, we’re without a left-back," said Guardiola to his new central

straight to your inboxSergio Aguero is getting over his struggles with Covid-19 and Pep Guardiola believes he will bounce back to “make the difference” in Manchester City’s title challenge.The club’s all-time top goalscorer has “struggled” with fatigue after testing positive for the virus last week, ince when he has had to self-isolate at hom.But Guardiola said Aguero has told medical staff that he is fighting back – and confidently predicted he will bring his considerable influence to bear in

straight to your inboxPep Guardiola suggested Eric Garcia could leave Manchester City this month after resigning himself to losing the centre-back.Garcia stunned his club last summer when he informed them that he no longer saw a future for himself at the Etihad and wished instead to return to former club Barcelona.