Even though his side suffered a shock 2-1 defeat away to Newcastle United on Tuesday night, Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola insists they can still win the Premier League title.
Kun Aguero put City ahead in St James’ Park after just one minute, but Newcastle turned things around in the second half with goals from Solomon Rondon and a Matt Ritchie penalty to inflict a shock defeat on the reigning champions.
If Liverpool win at home over Leicester City on Wednesday night it would take them seven points clear at the top of the table. Although Manchester City have already dropped more points this season than they did in their title winning campaign, Guardiola remains optimistic they can retain their title.
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“Well, it’s a lot of points if they (Liverpool) go on to win, but we are in January, it’s not April or May. There are still many games and anything can happen,” he said in declarations reproduced on Sky Sports.
Guardiola highlighted there are no easy games in the Premier League.
“A lot of teams are playing many reasons, some teams to stay in the Premier League, others to go to the Europa League, for the Champions League.”
“In our case, every game, we have to do our best to be there, try to not give up,” he said.
He denied his side had underestimated a Newcastle team battling to avoid relegation, but admitted that “sometimes we don’t play the level we want to play, it happens…it’s everybody, it’s not just one player. We could not win, because we were not at our best, that’s all.”
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“It was not our best night…We were not at our best, sometimes that happens, I can understand the players and unfortunately we couldn’t win,” he concluded.
Manchester City’s next game is another potential banana skin when they entertain Arsenal on Sunday at the Ethiad Stadium.