Blues need hunger to stay in the hunt

PEP Guardiola admits it has been harder for City to keep their motivation in this year’s Premier League title race – and Liverpool have not helped.

It was a significant year for many Blues last season as while the team celebrated their third win in seven years, for a lot of players it was their first championship.

Despite not consciously stepping off the gas, the fact that City now possess a squad full of league champions has made it more of a struggle to keep the players motivated.

That drop-off may not have been noticed, but the hunger that Guardiola saw in his dressing room last season he now sees at Anfield.

“My feeling is last season it was a little bit easier to maintain that hunger because 80 per cent of the players had not won anything in our lives,” he said.

“I can feel what they feel, the Liverpool players.

“After 29 years not winning the Premier League, to be there to win the Premier League.

“I understand that. And I said to the players, that’s difficult to handle. That is why in this season [the aim] is maintain there for as far as possible.” As he addressed media ahead of tonight’s must-win Premier League clash, there was a sense the manager does not feel his team are being given enough credit.

Three defeats in five games have taken the shine off what was looking like another extraordinary season, but the title race is far from over and victory tonight will reduce the gap to four points.

Having seen his players overcome what he was worried about at the start of the season, a delighted Guardiola expects Liverpool and other teams will drop more points in the second half of the campaign.

“I know what happened after Chelsea and Leicester won the league, the year after was tough.

“We’ve avoided that – we’ve got a lot of points, we are fighting, but the opponents have been incredible.

“We’ve done exceptional, we are there, we have a lot of games to go and I think everyone will lose points, even Liverpool.

“There are a lot of competitions, a lot of targets and every game will be tough, we’ll see what happens in the future.”