Pep Guardiola gives damning assessment of Man City title hopes

Pep Guardiola has insisted that Manchester City will not catch league leading Arsenal if they continue to perform as they did in the 4-2 win over Tottenham.

City put in a woefully under-par performance in the first half on Thursday evening, going two goals behind, before improving in the second half and scoring four to complete a dramatic comeback.

The win sees City move to within five points of Arsenal at the top of the Premier League table but, speaking after the game to the BBC, Guardiola insisted that they currently cannot compete for the title:

“We are far away from the team we had in previous seasons. Do you think this comeback will happen every time? It won’t.

“We have an opponent in Arsenal who have the fire. Two decades without winning the Premier League. I am explaining the reality, everything is so comfortable [at Man City[ but opponents don’t wait.

“I don’t recognise my team, they [previously] had the passion and desire to run. We are far, far away from being able to compete at the highest level. Today we were lucky. If we want to win something or compete – but complaining, complaining, complaining – no chance we will win anything.”

“Do you think we are going to chase the gap to Arsenal the way we are playing? No way.”