COMPLACENCY? IT WON’T HAPPEN ... I’D KILL’EM!

Right now City are playing some of the best football in Prem history... but Pep’s warning his all-stars he won’t let them take ANYTHING for granted

PEP GUARDIOLA smiled and even threw in a joke as he addressed the question.

He was deadly serious about the answer though. For the rivals expecting complacency to undermine Manchester City’s title bid: Good luck.

For the neutrals hoping his side will get ahead of themselves: Keep waiting. The man masterminding the rise of the latest great team in world football was deadly serious in response to suggestions they could get carried away with the hype.

“That is not going to happen.” said the Spaniard. “I’d kill them.

“The team is going to be first, that has happened. But this year the team has the desire to get the ball down to play, the team does not speculate about absolutely anything.”

That might well be the case but, after yet another footballing display of shock and awe, City are being compared to Arsene Wenger’s Invincibles, to Manchester United’s Treble winners of 1999. Seasoned observers are struggling to spot a weak link – or a team capable of reeling them in over the next seven months.

Saturday’s 2-0 win at Leicester was their 16th in a row. Their goal difference of plus-33 is likely to increase at Huddersfield next Sunday.

They lost John Stones (above) to injury and had returning captain Vincent Kompany on an early yellow card at the King Power Stadium.

Yet City still ripped the Foxes apart and it really would appear nobody can stop them. But Kompany said: “I want to remain on the cautious side because we don’t have any silverware. “Come back to me at the end of the season and we’ve won titles and then I’ll be happy to talk about it – if we have done something special. “We have just put ourselves in a good position to go and do something great.” In the meantime the Manchester City experience is delivering everything the club had hoped for from Guardiola – and more. Yes, you can argue it is the kind of football we should be expecting for the kind of backing he has had.

Manchester United have had that kind of cash too, however. They’ve played good stuff to get to within striking distance. But nothing like this.

Leicester may have hosted them on Saturday but City had the arrogance of a house guest who kicks off his shoes, flops into your favourite armchair and picks up the remote control to flick through the channels. Jose Mourinho tailors his tactics to snuff out the opposition’s threats.

So too Antonio Conte and Mauricio Pochettino.

With Guardiola is it all about him. Home or away, the opposition bow to his will, his team, his football. That is why City deserve so much praise.

Sometimes you do not have to speculate on what a team might do. Sometimes you can, and probably should, just appreciate what they are producing.

If they do beat Liverpool to Virgil van Dijk in January an already-strong defence will be formidable.

They would harden as favourites for the three domestic trophies. And they would be powerless to stop the hype machine.