A positive Despite a three-match losing streak, Pep Guardiola believes Manchester City will win a historic fourth consecutive Premier League title.
The reigning champions have drawn their last three league games, against Chelsea, Liverpool, and Tottenham, and are three points behind league leaders Arsenal heading into Wednesday’s showdown against Aston Villa.
City’s defense has been uncharacteristically porous, surrendering eight goals in three games as they prepare for a big test against Unai Emery’s men, who have won their last 13 home league games in a row.
Guardiola agreed that the triple champions from last season needed to tighten up at the back, but insisted that they were still not losing many games.
The City boss said despite their stumbles he was confident his men were on track to become the first team in English top-flight history to win four league titles in a row.
“The motivation is to do it better,” he said at his pre-match press conference on Tuesday. “I learned from where I come from that if you want to win you have to do it better than the opponent.
“We have to do much better. We have to try and not concede chances, or goals.
“My feeling today is we will win the Premier League if you ask me. If we play at the level of Liverpool or Tottenham we are going to win it again.
“The people don’t believe it after three draws but we are going to do it again, knowing it is not easy because no team has done it yet. That’s why the difficulty is there.”
City will be without banned midfielder Rodri for the trip to Villa Park; they lost all three games when he was suspended earlier this season.
John Stones will be able to play again, and Guardiola has stated that he may move the England international into midfield in place of the Spaniard.
“We don’t deny how important he is but he’s not there, suspended, like Jack (Grealish), so we will find the best solution to compete against Aston Villa,” said Guardiola.
Guardiola defended his team after the club was charged by the Football Association over their players’ behavior in the final moments of their 3-3 draw against Tottenham at the weekend.
Several City players, including an enraged Erling Haaland, confronted referee Simon Hooper when he failed to play advantage, prompting the Norwegian to criticize Hooper on social media.
Guardiola said he did not know how the club would react to the FA charge.
But he added: “We have behaved incredibly in these years, especially this season, how we behaved in our not-good results. The decisions sometimes are in favor, sometimes against (us), but we behaved even after the game.
“The comments from my players (were) about accepting that we can do better — and me first. It’s what I want to see of my club, of my team.
“After that, we will accept all the decisions of the Premier League or whatever.”
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