Pep Guardiola dismisses Man City stat that indicates they are the best team in the Premier League

Pep Guardiola has given his players a harsh reminder that not only did they lose up Crystal Palace last time the teams met … they also DESERVED to lose. The Manchester City boss takes his team to Selhurst Park on Monday night for the return game, after the Eagles shocked them with a 2-0 win at the Etihad Stadium.

That game saw the Blues play the entire second half with ten men after Aymeric Laporte’s red card in first-half added time - but they still had 68 per cent possession and managed 14 shots to Palace’s eight. But the south Londoners dug in to give manager Patrick Vieira a notable scalp, as Conor Gallagher’s late goal sealed the win set up by Wilfried Zaha’s early goal.

Laporte - almost certain to play on Monday with Ruben Dias out injured - was at fault for that early Zaha goal and compounded his error by hauling the Palace danger man down, leading to that red card. With Liverpool closing the gap at the top of the table to three points with their Saturday lunchtime win at Brighton, City cannot afford another slip against the Eagles.

ALSO READ:Why City's Haaland chase marks a new phase in their supremacy quest

And Guardiola said he had no excuses to offer for the shock home defeat by Palace. He said: “When you lose it is because you deserve to lose. We conceded an early goal from a mistake in our build-up, and after we had a red card on the edge of half-time when we were in our best period. In the second half we played with a lot of character and had chances, a disallowed goal for nothing, and in the end we conceded. But if we lost, it is because we deserved it.

“It is like Tottenham - when you see how we defended the cross from (Dejan) Kulusevski (for Harry Kane’s late winning goal) we deserved to lose. It is not