Pep - we are not contenders

PEP Guardiola says City are not title contenders, despite climbing into the European places with a 1-0 win at Southampton.

City remained within eight points of the top of the Premier League, with a game in hand, by beating a stubborn Saints side for their first win in three outings. It pushed City into the top five for the first time this season, although they are likely to move down again when the rest of the weekend’s Premier League fixtures are completed.

The win was important to any lingering hopes City have of mounting a title challenge, not least because Liverpool extended their lead at the top to six points with a clinical display of finishing in their 7-0 lunchtime win at Crystal Palace.

Asked after the Southampton win whether City needed the three points to remain in sight of the title race, Guardiola shook his head and declared his side as being far away from competing with Liverpool at the moment.

He told Amazon Prime: “We are [far] away. Look at the table. It’s a lot of points.

“[Liverpool] still have momentum in goals, 0-7 at Crystal Palace away.

“I saw [Palace] did so good against Tottenham. No doubts about how good Liverpool are.

“I said to the guys forget about it, think about high high things.

“We are in ninth in the table and where you are in the table try to next week be eighth, seventh.

“After to qualify for Europa League, afterwards the Champions League. If the situation happens, it happens.”

Referring back to the draw at home to West Brom in the week, followed by a characteristic performance against Southampton, Guardiola suggested his side needs to focus on winning games more regularly before any considerations to silverware.

He continued: “We cannot be focused too much because we dropped points, especially in the last one.

“Last season we came here and played incredibly well, I don’t know how many shots on target, and we lost.

“Today we played well but not like last season and we won. Sometimes happens.”