Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has congratulated Liverpool on their stunning form this season, but claimed that the gap is not what it should be.
City are currently sat in third place in the Premier League, having picked up 41 points from their opening 20 games. However, they are already a staggering 14 points behind runaway leaders Liverpool, who have also played one game fewer.
The Reds are undefeated this season and have only dropped points once, whereas Guardiola's men have already fallen to five defeats this campaign. The City boss has now revealed that the team need to work harder, play better and pray in order to catch Liverpool, while also claiming that their lead at the top of the table is not what it perhaps should be.
Asked how Liverpool could be caught, Guardiola replied, as quoted by TEAMtalk: “Work harder, play better, and pray.”
When asked whether his team were good enough, he continued: “With all the squad – yes. But there are things we cannot control, there are other issues we cannot control. We cannot control what a fantastic team like Liverpool have done so far and there are other issues you cannot control. When everyone is fit we can do it.
“This is still a fantastic team and I love it. We’ve had problems with injuries, which sometimes happens. Liverpool have been incredible, they are European champions and they have dropped just two points.
“We have to congratulate them. I know the distance we are is not what it should be – but it is what it is.”
It was recently revealed that Liverpool's lead at the top of the table would be just six points if Video Assistant Referee (VAR) wasn't in use. Most recently, the Reds overcame Wolves 1-0 in controversial fashion, with Sadio Mane's strike being awarded despite claims of a handball by Virgil van Dijk in the build-up. Pedro Neto later thought he had equalised, before VAR intervened to rule his goal out for offside.
Elsewhere, however, Guardiola praised City for their success over the last decade, adding: “I think this club in the last decade was the best team in terms of points, in terms of goals, in terms of everything, titles even. So congratulate Manchester City for that. I think we did it incredibly well.
“People say, ‘How was 2019?’ Now people are saying it is a disaster. But we won four titles in 2019, so it was an incredible year for us, we enjoyed it a lot. In some games in this last part of the year we have struggled a bit but it was an incredible year for us."
Source : 90min