LONDON — Pep Guardiola insists that he will not walk out on troubled Manchester City as he strives to stop the champions’ stunning decline.
Guardiola only recently signed a two-year contract extension but City’s dismal form has raised questions about his future at the Etihad Stadium.
A nightmare run of nine defeats in 13 games, with just one win in that woeful spell, triggered suggestions the City boss could decide to quit if he cannot find an answer to his team’s problems.
But, having led City to six Premier League titles in the past seven seasons, Guardiola is adamant he still has the hunger to turn the situation around.
“I will try, I will keep going. Sometimes you think the bad run will be ended earlier or it would be easier to fix it, but it takes more time,” he said according to AFP.
“I will not give up. I want to be here. I want to do it and, with the situation that we have, we have to do it.
“Of course I want it, everyone wants it. I don’t want to disappoint my people in terms of the club, the fans, and the people who love this club.
“I think all of us in our job want to do it well and please the people. That is undeniable, not a question mark.
“The biggest test is to come back again, but we have done that before.”
Injuries have been a major factor in City’s demise, leaving them languishing in seventh place in the Premier League.
Ballon d’Or winner Rodri is recovering from a long-term knee injury, while Ruben Dias, John Stones, Ederson, Kyle Walker, Jack Grealish and Matheus Nunes all missed the 1-1 draw with Everton on Boxing Day.
The usually prolific Erling Haaland missed a penalty that could have sealed a City win against Everton, extending his erratic form in an inconsistent season.
Haaland has scored just once in his last seven games, but Guardiola refused to blame the Norway striker or any of his team-mates.
“I don’t have it in my education to start complaining, to point at people. It’s happened, it’s life, it’s football, so let’s try it again,” he said.
“That’s why we have had success, because always it is never enough, we will try it again and again and again. That’s why we won a lot of titles.
“Every three days it was a game and win, win, win for many, many months and years. Now we have to do the same when results are not good.”
City still have doubts over the fitness of a number of players as they bid to get back to winning ways at struggling Leicester on Sunday.
“Sometimes you have injuries,” Guardiola said. “For how many years we were incredibly consistent but now, yes, we’re a little bit down and the main reason is having so many important players injured.
“But I saw the team spirit, how we trained this week, how focused they are, how they try to practise.”
Arsenal, meanwhile, began life without Bukayo Saka by beating Ipswich 1-0 to move into second place in the Premier League and cut Liverpool’s lead to six points.
Kai Havertz scored the only goal as Arsenal failed to turn their dominance into a more convincing scoreline.
The lack of a clinical goalscorer may ultimately cost Mikel Arteta’s men a first league title in more than 20 years, but they took advantage of Chelsea’s shock 2-1 defeat against Fulham on Thursday to become Liverpool’s closest challenger.
Saka is set to be sidelined for “many weeks” in the words of Gunners’ boss Arteta with fears the England international could be out until March due to a hamstring injury suffered in last weekend’s 5-1 victory at Crystal Palace.
Arteta’s solution was to start with Gabriel Martinelli in Saka’s normal role wide right with Gabriel Jesus continuing up front after scoring five times in Arsenal’s previous two outings.
The home side was dominant in possession but had few clear-cut chances to show for it until the final quarter.
Arsenal was frustrated by Everton in a 0-0 draw in their last league game at the Emirates so there was relief when Havertz broke the deadlock on 23 minutes.
The German prodded high into the net from Leandro Trossard’s low cross for his 12th goal of the season.
Jesus did find the net once more with a cheeky finish between the legs of Arijanet Muric from an almost impossible angle, but was flagged offside.
Arsenal’s prowess from set-pieces has been well-documented and they should have added to their goals from corners this season.
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