Pep Guardiola says Manchester City ‘not in the position to think about being champions’ after Tottenham loss

Pep Guardiola admitted Manchester City are “not in the position to think about being champions” after their 1-0 defeat to Tottenham.

Arsenal’s loss to Everton on Saturday had presented City with the chance to close the gap on the Premier League leaders to two points.

“We started really well, as usually happens against Tottenham home and away, but after we made a mistake they punished us,” City boss Guardiola told Sky Sports.

“At 1-0 down it is different, we had chances, and of course when we lose balls in transition with [Dejan] Kulusevski and [Heung-Min] Son, it is not easy. We dropped three points.

“We are not in the position to think about being champions, just the next game, Aston Villa, we will prepare well and play our game as best as possible.

“Tottenham has a fantastic team and squad and they punish you. They have a lot of quality up front and don’t need much with transitions, set-pieces, give a lot of credit to them.”

City have now lost on all five of their visits to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and have failed to score a single goal.

“Sooner or later it is going to change,” reflected Guardiola.

“But it is strange we haven’t scored one goal, we have missed penalties in the past. To find an explanation is not easy.

“We found the positions, made good balls to the channels, but missed the last action up front.”

Asked whether his players followed the gameplan, Guardiola said: “Most of the time, yeah. But it is not easy when 10 players defend, and sit back a little bit more than in the Etihad two weeks ago [when City beat Tottenham 4-2].

“We played good, started well and missed maybe the last pass, to shoot.”

City play Villa next Sunday before a trip to Arsenal on February 15.

It will be the first league meeting between City and Arsenal this season after their previous scheduled meeting was postponed.