Guardiola coy on City chances

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has admitted he does not know if his side will be able to catch Liverpool after their 3-1 defeat at Anfield on Sunday. Guardiola, whose team have already lost three times this season – they were defeated only four times on the way to the title in May and just twice in their record-breaking 100-point win the year before – accepts they have a real challenge on their hands, and not just from Liverpool. “We have three teams in front of us, maybe they have more chance to win the Premier League than us but hopefully we can sustain this mentality and try it,” he said. “In the end, if it’s not enough, we will congratulate Liverpool, Leicester or Chelsea and move forward for the next season. “Nine points is a lot, they (Liverpool) lost just one game last season. Is it their year? My colleague Jurgen (Klopp) can explain better than me.”
City started the game with a determination to cut Liverpool’s advantage to three points and dominated the opening 20 minutes only to find themselves 2-0 down – and not without controversy.
The ball deflected off Bernardo Silva’s arm and hit Trent Alexander-Arnold’s outstretched limb in Liverpool’s penalty area, Michael Oliver waved play on and the hosts went down other end for Fabinho to score a 25-yard screamer.
A VAR checked ruled the goal good and Liverpool doubled their lead when Mohamed Salah nodded home Andy Robertson’s cross, with the video review ruling he was just onside.
City again felt they should have had a penalty for a push by Sadio Mane on Raheem Sterling after the break, by which time they were 3-0 down through the Senegal international’s header.
After Bernardo’s consolation goal and the full-time whistle, television pictures showed Guardiola shaking Oliver’s hand and saying “Thank you so much” at the final whistle but he denied he was being patronising. “No, it was not sarcastic. It was ‘Thank you so much’. I said the same thing after the Tottenham game. ‘Thank you so much’,” he added. “Most of the time, I go over to the referees and my colleagues and I say ‘good luck’ all the time.”
Guardiola and his City squad have time now to ponder what went wrong at Anfield during the international break but return to action on November 23 with another massive Premier League encounter.
City welcome a Chelsea side sat one place above them in the standings after Frank Lampard’s side notched up six league wins on the spin with a 2-0 victory over Crystal Palace on Saturday.