Pep Guardiola insists he still wants to be at Manchester City amid their desperate run of form and will do everything to turn their fortunes around.
City were pegged back in a 1-1 draw with Everton on Boxing Day, making it five games without a win in all competitions.
They have only won one of their last 13 dating back to late October, beating Nottingham Forest 3-0 in the Premier League earlier this month.
They have only won one of their last nine in the league, drawing two and losing six, having won 16 of their previous 18 beforehand, drawing the other two.
The reigning Premier League champions have shipped 26 goals in all competitions since the start of November. Among all teams from Europe’s top five leagues, only Heidenheim, who are battling relegation in the Bundesliga, have conceded more (28).
Guardiola signed a new contract to keep him at the Etihad Stadium in the midst of City’s terrible run, despite the uncertainty hanging over the club since they were charged with 115 breaches of the Premier League’s financial rules.
“I will try, I will keep going,” Guardiola said at Saturday’s pre-match press conference ahead of Sunday’s trip to Leicester City.
“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, the people who love this club.
“I think all of us in our jobs want to do them 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.”
Despite their poor form, the Opta supercomputer still gives City a 71.7% chance of a top-four finish, though their hopes of an unprecedented fifth straight title are all but over at 0.2%.
City have been hampered by injuries all season, most obviously when they lost Ballon d’Or winner Rodri to an anterior cruciate ligament issue in September.
City went unbeaten through 34 matches when Rodri featured in the Premier League last season but lost three of the four games he missed.
The Spaniard is not expected to return in 2024-25, while Ruben Dias, John Stones, Manuel Akanji, Nathan Ake and Kevin De Bruyne have all had spells on the sidelines.
A flu virus has left City further depleted across the festive period, but Guardiola says their selection issues cannot excuse their results.
“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 practice.
“We saw that against Everton but unfortunately we couldn’t get the result we wanted.”
SoccerNews
Read More