PEP HAPPY FER CITY TO STAY AS THEY ARE

PEP GUARDIOLA is adamant he has no intention of moving Fernandinho back into the Manchester City midfield.

The Brazilian has been playing as a centre-back in recent months – a situation that came about through necessity with Aymeric Laporte and John Stones out injured, but has endured even with the latter now fit again.

The champions have now fallen 11 points behind Premier League leaders Liverpool, with Fernandinho’s absence from midfield cited as an issue by critics. Yet Guardiola has no intention of moving the 34-year-old back into his preferred role.

Asked why Stones and Nicolas Otamendi are not currently trusted together, Guardiola said: ‘Because I like ‘Dinho in that position a lot. Right now, yes [I prefer him as a defender].’

As for the midfield, he added: ‘I prefer [Ilkay] Gundogan and Rodri in this position.’ After failing to keep a clean sheet in their past seven games, however, Guardiola accepts his team needed to tighten up at the back. ‘We are not good enough,’ he said. ‘We will improve.’

Gundogan will miss tonight’s trip to Burnley through suspension and record goalscorer Sergio Aguero remains on the sidelines with a thigh injury, and is out of contention for Saturday’s derby with Manchester United.

‘He is not ready for the derby but after the derby we will see,’ Guardiola said.

City suffered another blow to their hopes of winning a third successive title as they were held to a 2-2 draw at Newcastle last Saturday. Yet Guardiola is determined to fight on and recognises the importance of claiming victory against a tough Burnley side. He said:

In the situation we are in we cannot think about the people who are in front

‘They (his players) have to believe we will win tomorrow. That is the fact.

‘In the situation we are in we cannot think about the people who are in front. We have to think about what we have to do to win the games and play quite similar to recent games, especially like Newcastle and, except for 20-25 minutes, against Chelsea. We played good.

‘It is always difficult for all teams [at Burnley]. What they do they do perfectly. We need to adapt to their style and play our way.’