Pep Guardiola is confident he can remedy Manchester City’s issues after losing three consecutive games for the first time since 2018. Defeat at Brighton today would see the City boss lose four straight matches for the first time in his trophy-laden managerial career.
The Premier League champions have been beset by injury problems, most notably the loss of Ballon d’Or winner Rodri for the rest of the season.
Guardiola will not be able to welcome back any of his injured stars this weekend, but the Spaniard hopes for a cleaner bill of health after the imminent international break.
“It’s football, it has happened. We know the reason why we struggled,” Guardiola said. “Looking forward to the game and, after the international break, a few players will come back better and recover. For all the problems that we have, little problems that every player has, we will solve it.”
City’s three defeats have all come in different competitions. After exiting the League Cup to Tottenham and suffering a first Premier League loss since December at Bournemouth, City were thrashed 4-1 by Sporting Lisbon in the Champions League in midweek.
However, Guardiola dismissed the suggestion he could learn more about his players from their tough run compared to winning four consecutive Premier League titles. “They proved many times what they are capable of,” added Guardiola.
Oscar Bobb, Ruben Dias, Jack Grealish and John Stones are set to miss the trip to the Amex Stadium. But Kevin De Bruyne could make his first Premier League appearance for two months, while Jeremy Doku, Savinho, Manuel Akanji and Kyle Walker are expected to make the squad.
Slot not surprised by flying
start at Liverpool
Arne Slot said he is not shocked by a stunning start to life in charge of Liverpool as the Reds have stormed to the top of the Premier League and Champions League. The Dutch coach has won 14 and drawn one of his 16 matches in charge in all competitions as the holders have also progressed to the League Cup quarter-finals.
Slot appeared to have a tough ask to follow Jurgen Klopp.
But he has built on the solid foundations left by the German after Liverpool finished third in the Premier League behind City and Arsenal last season.
“Surprise isn’t the right word I’d use because I knew the quality of our team. But quality is one thing, to be consistent is a second thing,” said Slot ahead of hosting Aston Villa today. “From the moment I started working with them I saw how much energy they put in on a daily basis and that is I think the reason you can be consistent.”
Liverpool were inspired by the power of the Anfield crowd to come from behind to beat Brighton 2-1 last weekend to move two points ahead of City at the top of the Premier League. A similar atmosphere helped blow Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen away 4-0 in the Champions League on Tuesday.
Slot is keen to keep his players’ feet on the ground but is happy for the fans to get excited about the possibility of just a second league title in 35 years.
“If the end result of them being excited is to bring the atmosphere of the second half against Brighton and the whole game against Leverkusen, I am hoping they will keep being excited because that atmosphere helped us a lot,” added the former Feyenoord boss. Diogo Jota remains sidelined but should return after November’s international break.
FixturesToday (1500 GMT unless stated): Brentford v Bournemouth, Crystal Palace v Fulham, West Ham v Everton, Wolves v Southampton, Brighton v Manchester City (1730), Liverpool v Aston Villa (2000)
Tomorrow (1400 unless stated): Manchester Utd v Leicester, Nottingham Forest v Newcastle, Tottenham v Ipswich, Chelsea v Arsenal (1630)