Manchester City may be destined to concede their Premier League crown to Liverpool, but Pep Guardiola has no concerns over the safety of some of their domestic records

Pep Guardiola has reminded Liverpool they can no longer beat Manchester City’s 100-point tally (Image: HaytersTV)

Pep Guardiola has cheekily told Liverpool his side’s record 100-point tally is safe.

Manchester City’s bid for a record fifth successive Premier League title collapsed during a miserable autumn run and they now trail the leaders from Merseyside by 16 points.

Yet even if the Reds do go on to secure the crown, they now cannot match the record haul City achieved in winning the first of Guardiola’s six titles in 2017-18.

Guardiola said: “We took all the records in England. Who would do 100 points now in modern football? I’m waiting. Or four in a row? I’m waiting – with clubs like Bournemouth, Fulham and Wolves that you have to play.

“The standards, we dictated. Have you seen Liverpool this season? They cannot do 100 points already – 99 but not 100.”

Despite that, Guardiola accepts City have fallen away this season as rivals have improved. He said: “I asked Gundo (Ilkay Gundogan) yesterday, ‘two years ago you were here, you were one year in Barcelona and you come back here, did you see changes in the Premier League?’.

“He said massively, the difference was unbelievable. It’s the truth. The teams are much, much, much better in all departments. People prepare so well.

“We cannot do it for the (injury) problems we’ve had. There are a lot of players, with the amount of minutes they have had, who are so tired, emotionally as well.

“But guys, we deserve to have a bad season. We deserve not to be like we were. They are human beings, it can happen. We weren’t consistent and we haven’t had the players at their best.

Arne Slot’s Liverpool are in pole position to win the Premier League title this year ( Image: AFP via Getty Images)

“It’s the first time that me and many of the players have lived this position but we have to accept it (and recognise) what happened in the past was not normal.”

Guardiola feels the difference from previous seasons is that City are no longer making the most of possession. He said: “I accept when the opponents have the ball, I’m going to suffer.

“But now we are suffering when we have the ball. It never happened before and, (right) now, I cannot change it. We are suffering because we are human beings.”

It is not only the Premier League in which City have failed to deliver as expected, with their Champions League hopes also now looking slim. After scraping into the play-off round in 22nd place, City must now overturn a 3-2 deficit in the second leg of their play-off tie against Real Madrid in Spain next week to reach the last 16.

Yet they do have other prospects with the club through to the FA Cup fifth round and Guardiola also eyeing a strong tilt at the Club World Cup in the summer.

There have been question marks over how seriously the European sides will take FIFA’s expanded 32-team competition in the United States, particularly given the short turnaround before the start of next season. Guardiola, however, has suggested he will prioritise the tournament over the Premier League.

Asked if he was going to rest players, he said at a press conference: “No, I don’t think so. It will be summertime there. We will go with the families, we will welcome some people from the academy and we will train when we have to train and prepare for the games.

“It is important for the club, financially and for the prestige. After we’ll see if I give extra time to arrive late. Maybe for the first games of the Premier League (some will) arrive a little bit later. We will see how the people arrive and how many minutes some players play.”