Man City's Premier League opponents ranked from whipping boys to bogey teams

Even the most ridiculous of the “Pep is a fraud” brigade would have to admit that he has improved Manchester City.

If the Blues can see the job through this season, the Catalan will have overseen four league title triumphs in his six-year reign, as many as they had won in the previous 128 years of history.

He has also doubled their number of League Cup victories in the same period, from four to a record-equalling eight, and thrown in an FA Cup, first Champions League final and a bundle of new English records for good measure.

And the general picture is one of unrelenting win after win, opponents being crushed underfoot by a relentless and remorseless winning machine.

That is not an entirely accurate picture, as Tottenham reminded us at the weekend, as they became the only team in the league who have won as many as they have lost against City in the Guardiola era.

And, remarkably, there are four clubs who have actually IMPROVED their records against Pep's City, when compared to the eight years under Mark Hughes, Roberto Mancini and Manuel Pellegrini.

Not surprisingly, City have the lowest winning percentage against Liverpool, both pre- and post-Guardiola, although the Catalan has improved their win percentage from 25 per cent to 36%.

He has also upped their winning ratio against Manchester United, Chelsea and Saturday’s opponents Everton, who were the Blues’ big bogey team in the five seasons following Sheikh Mansour’s intervention.

It is remarkable, given that City were already serial winners under Roberto Mancini and Manuel Pellegrini, that Guardiola has improved their winning record against 14 of the 18 clubs who have played in more than half of the seasons since 2008.

The four clubs against whom he has not improved