MANCHESTER, England (Reuters) – Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola said he still feels his side are going to win the Premier League for a record fourth year in a row despite drawing their last three games.
The champions are third, a point behind Liverpool and three adrift of pacesetters Arsenal who can move five points clear at the top with a win at lowly Luton Town later on Tuesday.
“My feeling today is we will win the Premier League,” Guardiola told reporters ahead of City’s match on Wednesday at Unai Emery’s fourth-placed Aston Villa.
“If we play at the level of Liverpool or Tottenham we’ll do it again.
“People don’t believe it after three draws, but we are going to do it again. We know that it is not easy, no team has done it yet (four Premier League titles in a row) and that is why the difficulty is there.”
City were held 3-3 at home by Spurs on Sunday after a 1-1 draw with Liverpool and a thrilling 4-4 result at Chelsea.
Guardiola said he was concerned about the goals conceded but the statistics compared well to last season, when City won a treble of Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup.
“I’m saying the average of conceding chances is lower apart from (the) Chelsea (game). The rest of the games are the same level as the previous seasons when we won a lot of titles,” he added.
Guardiola said City’s England defender John Stones was ready to play after injury, possibly as a holding midfielder in the absence of the suspended Rodri, while Jeremy Doku was facing a fitness test.
City also have Jack Grealish suspended for the match at Villa, who have won their last 13 home league games.
Guardiola said he had a lot of admiration for fellow-Spaniard Emery.
“Always when he leaves, the teams are better in all departments, the results, the players, controlling high presses, deep, set pieces and transitions, it’s exceptional,” he explained.
“The run, the form that they have this season, especially at home, because they’ve won everything, but away as well, it’ll be a tough game. We knew it before, and we know it now.”
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Ken Ferris)
