'Accept the reality' - Pep Guardiola hits back over two Man City defeats

Pep Guardiola expects Manchester City to be fighting for titles at the end of the season despite their recent struggles.

The Blues have been struggling for weeks with a hefty injury list and things came to a head in the last days with two defeats in four days. Tottenham knocked them out of the Carabao Cup in midweek before Bournemouth inflicted their first Premier League defeat of the season on at the weekend.

Kyle Walker admitted after that game that he had returned earlier from injury than he could have done in order to be there as captain, and Manu Akanji and Nathan Ake are still struggling for fitness despite travelling to Portugal this week. However, Guardiola believes that while his team have accepted they will struggle they are also in a very good position ahead of their Champions League game with Sporting.

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"I know our standards. We lost one game in the Premier League," he said. "Maybe we will lose against Brighton and Tottenham but we lost one game and we are two points behind a top class team in Liverpool.

"We have done decently in the Champions League, I would say. I understand. I know people expect us to win 38 games 5-0 and win The Treble every season because this is our standards but this will not happen.

"It's more difficult because we have a lot of absences because sometimes there are seasons where it happens. To win The Treble everything has to be on the same page: no injuries, good momentum, opponents drop points at important moments.

"This is not possible because Oscar [Bobb] was the best player in pre-season and we miss him a lot, Jack [Grealish] is still not fit and Rodri, the best player in the world, is not here for the rest of the season.

"We know that we are going to struggle and that is the point. Accept that we are going to struggle and it is fine. Every game will be more difficult than when everything was smooth so it's not a situation that is always the same; we won six Premier Leagues in seven years and situations change. It's the reality."

Guardiola also credited their increasing competition for the Premier League for how difficult things have been this season. City have only really run away with the game against Ipswich in this campaign, but the manager insists they have still performed well.

"The middle class in the Premier League has risen unbelievably," he added.. "The top class teams were always there: City, Arsenal, Liverpool, United - add Newcastle and Tottenham in recent years. But after you see Fulham, Brentford, most of the teams. We have suffered against Wolves and Southampton.

"The teams that were 8th 10, 11th they are really good strong teams so every team is more difficult but this is the challenge. Maintain there, be there and at the end we will see if we can arrive in the last months with the chances to fight for the titles.

"The players know it because they feel it in the last month or two the quality of the team. That's why I'm really impressed and really happy that we are still there. Bournemouth deserved to win by far. They were better on the day.

"That doesn't mean we are bad, we are not going to fight for the titles. When you lose sometimes, the opponents can be better. Tomorrow we have to improve on the next.