Patient Guardiola banking on title race experience as City hunt down rivals

Manchester City have not had the ideal start in their bid for an unprecedented fourth straight Premier League trophy but manager Pep Guardiola said on Friday that they were up for the challenge with rich experience from their previous title runs.

City are fourth in the standings with a game in hand after just two wins in their last seven matches. They trail league leaders Liverpool by five points.

Guardiola's side have also failed to keep a clean sheet since October and the Spaniard said teams in the bottom half of the table have closed the gap to the heavyweights this season.

"The lower teams in the bottom are getting points and results against the top teams. In the last few seasons, it didn't happen much, but the top teams are struggling to get the results," Guardiola told reporters.

"So never give up, keep going and go game by game. We are used to it in the last seasons, we just need to be calm, analyse it.

"The Premier League is so long, there are many, many things. With Man City, many things are going to happen."

City face bottom side Sheffield United on Saturday, a team they have beaten in all six Premier League meetings. But Erling Haaland is still unavailable along with Kevin De Bruyne, Jeremy Doku and John Stones.

Haaland, the league's top scorer with 14 goals, has not played since the start of December and has missed City's last six games in all competitions.

"Nothing has changed from the last games. The same are injured, plus John Stones," Guardiola said.

City finish 2023 with five trophies having won the FIFA Club World Cup earlier this month to add to their treble from last season and the UEFA Super Cup in August, but Guardiola said the year could still have been better.

"Not bad at all. Could be better, always can