adminLONDON. — Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola warned that his side will not stroll to the English Premiership soccer title — despite another emphatic win to keep them clear at the top. City turned on the style to maintain their 100 per cent start to life under Guardiola, but the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich boss has no illusions about the scale of the task ahead.He turned the air blue when asked, in the immediate aftermath of the latest master-class under him, if he was targeting a clean sweep of all four trophies. Next up is a League Cup trip to Swansea tomorrow night.
“What the f***,” muttered an exasperated Guardiola, who paused for 10 seconds before putting some perspective on his team’s explosive start under him.
“Manchester City arrived in the Champions League semi-final once, so when the people believe I’m going to win the Champions League because I’m a really good coach, I don’t think so guys.
“So my happiness does not depend on if I’m going to win all the titles or not. My target is now to be happy today, drink a little bit of wine and tomorrow prepare for the next game.
“Of course I’m going to try to win our League Cup game, there’s no doubt about that. And after that we’re going to see.
“So my question today is, ‘Are the people who came to this game really enjoying it?’ Yes? Wow, that’s enough. Then, if we win titles or not, we’ll see.”
Pointing to Chelsea and Liverpool, he added: “Yesterday I saw two fantastic opponents and I know how difficult it will be – absolutely.”
Guardiola set a club record of 28 games unbeaten in all competitions at Barcelona, but suggested talk of a similar feat at City was premature, despite winning all eight of his matches so far.
“I’m not here to say we’re about to achieve 20 games in a row without defeat,” he said. “No, believe me, we’re going to lose… hopefully as late as possible, but we will.
“We’re a good team, but there are many things we can make better.”
And Manchester City launch their League Cup defence at Swansea City this week with Guardiola desperate to keep a lid on expectations after their supreme start to the season.
City have won their eight games in all competitions — a club record — and preserved their two-point advantage at the English Premier League summit with a razor-sharp 4-0 win over Bournemouth on Saturday. It was the fifth time this season they have scored three or more goals in a game, but Guardiola has vowed that he will not allow complacency to take hold at the Etihad Stadium.
Fixtures (all 8:45pm unless otherwise stated)
Today: Bournemouth v Preston North End, Brighton and Hove Albion v Reading, Derby County v Liverpool, Everton v Norwich City, Leeds United v Blackburn Rovers, Leicester City v Chelsea, Newcastle United v Wolverhampton Wanderers, Nottingham Forest v Arsenal
Tomorrow: Fulham v Bristol City, Northampton Town v Manchester United, Queens Park Rangers v Sunderland, Southampton v Crystal Palace, Stoke City v Hull City (9pm), Swansea City v Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur v Gillingham (9pm), West Ham United v Accrington Stanley. — AFP
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