Guardiola vows to rebuild City, Slot shifts focus to PSG match

Pep Guardiola insisted Manchester City will be a Premier League force again in the future after Erling Haaland sealed a 1-0 win at Tottenham on Wednesday.

Haaland’s clinical finish in the 12th minute bolstered City’s bid to qualify for next season’s Champions League as they moved into fourth place.

Battling to finish in the top four is a significant letdown for City after they won the last four Premier League titles to make it six in seven seasons for Guardiola.

Liverpool look almost certain to take the title this season, but City -- beaten 2-0 by the Reds on Sunday -- have been out of the race for months after a dismal period which has left them 20 points adrift of the leaders.

With City also out of the Champions League following their play-off loss to Real Madrid, Guardiola has only the FA Cup left as a path to silverware this season.

But in the longer-term, the Spaniard remains convinced City can be restored to their former glory despite a team ageing in some positions and lacking Premier League experience in others.

The good and bad sides to City’s spluttering team were on full display in north London as they started brightly but wasted a series of chances to increase their lead before clinging on under heavy pressure after the interval.

“Never will be this season the old City,” Guardiola said. “Old City were too good, but we will be back.

“The game, it was open second half because we didn’t close the first. In this stadium always they have 20 to 25 minutes and second half we suffered.

“It’s happened many times this season that we give away an unbelievable amount of goals and up front there are many games, like Champions League at Sporting we should be 1-3 or 1-4 in the first half and we lost 4-1. Many times it happens and today fortunately it finished good.”

Meanwhile, if the joyous fans at Anfield on Wednesday celebrated as if they were witnessing a Premier League title in the making, neither Liverpool boss Arne Slot nor his players were getting carried away in what has been an outstanding season, but is far from over.

The league leaders climbed 13 points clear at the top of the league table with their 2-0 victory over Newcastle United in driving rain that could not dampen the celebratory mood of fans.

When asked when he might see a glimmer of light, however, Slot said: “Indeed, it’s still a long way to go, 10 games, and we have the (League Cup) final of course and two very important games against Paris St Germain, so we’re not focused on the long term.

“And now I think the players have two days off, so Saturday, we go back and focus on Paris St Germain more than we focus on the league table in the Premier League.”

Liverpool, who topped the Champions League table after the eight-game league phase, head to Paris to play PSG in the first leg of their last-16 tie next Wednesday.

Slot’s men have been a picture of consistency, undefeated in 27 of their 28 league matches this season. Wednesday’s victory was their 32nd in 43 games across all competitions, the most victories by a team in one of Europe’s top five leagues.

Their win over Newcastle came courtesy of goals from Dominik Szoboszlai and Alexis Mac Allister, and Szoboszlai agreed with Slot that there was no room for breathing easy yet.

“After mathematically they (Arsenal) do not have any chance to get us,” the midfielder said. “We’re really happy that we are 13 points clear but we just focus on ourselves. We have Champions League coming up so we have to focus on that too. We are looking forward to staying at the top of the table.”

Asked about the chance to hoist several trophies this season, the Hungarian was hesitant to say much.

“When I came to Liverpool I wanted to win everything in my first season. So I don’t like to talk about it,” Szoboszlai said. “First we have a Champions League game to prepare and then a Premier League game and then we have a cup final against a really tough team (League Cup final on March 16 v Newcastle).

Agencies