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.



I’m waiting.

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“Or four in a row?

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.

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 weren’t consistent and we haven’t had the players at their best.

“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.

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.