Chronicle Editor
Cape Town — Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has urged his side to “accept the reality” following a surprising dip in form that has seen them lose three of their last four Premier League fixtures.
The Citizens were in imperious form at the start of the campaign going unbeaten for 15 matches before suffering their first defeat of the season at Chelsea on December 8.
The 2-0 defeat to Chelsea proved to be an omen of what was to come, with Crystal Palace and Leicester City both taking maximum points from their clash with Guardiola’s side later in the month.
Table-topping Liverpool now boast a six-point lead at the top of the table, with Tottenham leapfrogging Man City into second place on Boxing Day after a 5-0 rout of Bournemouth.
Many pundits and fans will already have one eye on the upcoming clash with Liverpool in the new year, but Guardiola wants his players to remain focused on their next encounter, a trip to Southampton on Sunday.
“We have to accept the reality. It’s happened, accept the reality and try to win again for our confidence,” Guardiola said. “Now there will be doubts but we have to change the dynamic.
“I have to think about what the team needs and then try to win again.
“In football you are able to win a lot of games and lose a lot of games. We have to think about Southampton next and recover mentally.”
He continued: “The reality is we have lost three in four and to be real contenders we need to win again, so we focus on Southampton.
“We have made an incredible amount of points at this stage and if we can get the same, or more, in the second half of the season then we are fighting to win the championship. But at the moment, the reality is that two more teams are better than us.”
Meanwhile, Unai Emery apologises to Brighton fans after kicking water bottle into crowd — and hitting supporter — during Arsenal’s draw at Amex Stadium
Unai Emery apologised to Brighton supporters after booting a water bottle into the crowd during Arsenal’s 1-1 draw at Amex Stadium.
The Spaniard kicked the bottle and it flew up, glancing off one fan, to Emery’s immediate regret.
Brighton fans surrounding the incident reacted furiously but to his credit, the Arsenal manager apologised straight away.
He also walked over to the section of supporters in question once the full time whistle had been blown to express his contrition once again.
Emery was also seen explaining his actions to the fourth official on the touchline.
After the game he briefly explained what had happened: ‘I said to them, “apologies”, because I kicked the bottle after a disappointing action for us in the last minutes.
‘It wasn’t hard, but it touched one supporter for them. I said to them I’m sorry.’
It was a flashpoint for the Gunners boss in a frustrating Boxing Day evening against Chris Hughton’s spirited side.
The officials were satisfied that the incident was dealt with and decided not to include it in the match report. The Seagulls responded to Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s opening goal with a Jurgen Locadia equaliser.
Mesut Ozil was brought off at half-time but Arsenal failed to come up with a winner and Brighton continually threatened on the break. — Sport24-Dailyonline.com
derick.khumalo