Pep Guardiola: Players are focused, despite all the noise

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola is backing his players to deliver on the pitch and the club's lawyers off it.

The champions were rocked on Monday when the Premier League charged them with 115 breaches of its Financial Fair Play regulations following a four-year investigation. Guardiola was in defiant mood on Friday as he spoke publicly for the first time since the charges were published, passionately defending the club and expressing an even greater determination to succeed in his job.

He insisted he was convinced of the club's innocence and backed them to prove it in the face of doubters from all angles, notably rival Premier League clubs.

The furore over the matter - with City facing possible points deductions or even expulsion from the competition if found guilty - has meant that Sunday's clash with Aston Villa has been completely overshadowed. Guardiola, however, expects his side to come out firing at the Etihad Stadium.

He said: "Why should they be distracted? I'm confident in my players. The players will be focused on our game, (as) in the past and (will be) in the future. What happened Monday - a lot of words, a lot of noise - and the next days I have the feeling that everyone is going to do the job, ourselves on the pitch and our lawyers in the court."

We need your consent to load this rte-player content We use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content. Manage Preferences

In a footballing sense, City are in need of a lift after last week's defeat at Tottenham. Recent form has been patchy with points dropped in three of the last six Premier League games.

The result at Spurs was