Guardiola guards against complacency after Man City’s perfect start

Manchester City’s Spanish manager Pep Guardiola attends a press conference at Manchester City training ground in Manchester, north-west England on September 18, 2023, ahead of their UEFA Champions League Group G football match against Red Star Belgrade. (Photo by Paul ELLIS / AFP)

Pep Guardiola said Friday he was not getting carried away with Manchester City’s perfect start to the season, warning it was “just the beginning”.

The defending champions have won all five games so far in the Premier League and are the only team with a 100 percent record.

They also clinched the UEFA Super Cup against Sevilla on penalties and made a winning start to their Champions League campaign, with a 3-1 win over Red Star Belgrade in midweek.

But Guardiola said he was keeping his feet on the ground despite the flying start, pointing to his first season in charge at the Etihad Stadium in 2016/17.

“When we arrived here seven or eight years ago we made six from six (at the start of the season) and we finished third. It’s just the beginning,” Guardiola said.

England winger Jack Grealish could return for Saturday’s home game against Nottingham Forest in the Premier League.

Grealish has missed the treble winners’ past three games with a knee injury and was also unavailable for international duty earlier this month.

The 28-year-old is now back in training, easing Guardiola’s injury concerns after Bernardo Silva this week joined a casualty list that also includes Kevin De Bruyne, John Stones and Mateo Kovacic.

“We need the injured players back because we have a lot of games and we cannot play with the same players,” said the City boss.

“Jack is coming back. He has trained well and maybe he will be ready for some minutes. Kova is almost there, he’s in the