MANCHESTER: Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola said he would stay to the end of his contract with the Premier League champions even if they were relegated, a day after he signed a two-year extension that will keep him at the club until 2027.

Guardiola, who joined City in 2016, has won 18 trophies with the club including six Premier League titles and their first Champions League.

City are embroiled in a hearing over alleged breaches of the league’s financial fair play rules, however, which could potentially see them face points deductions, a fine and relegation if found guilty.

Guardiola has always defended City, saying that he trusts the owners, and the Spaniard said relegation would not cause him to leave the club.

“I said six months ago, when all the clubs accused us to have done something wrong, what happened if we are relegated - I will be here,” Guardiola told reporters ahead of Saturday’s home game against Tottenham Hotspur.

“Next year, if we are in the Conference we will come up to the Premier League. I knew it then, I feel it now.”

Guardiola said he had agreed a new deal in “just two hours” and when asked why he signed a two-year extension, he joked saying it was because he liked the Manchester weather.

“It’s a good question. I don’t want next season in September, October, November, ‘It’s the last year of Pep’. I don’t want to be in that position,” he added. “I would like to stay for two years but I know if the results are not good it will not be two years.”

Guardiola lost four matches in a row for the first time in his managerial career, before the international break, but he brushed it aside saying they are also the only club to win four league titles in a row.

“When you are here eight or nine years, you live all the scenarios and situations. You are able to lose four games in a row. At the same time, you are able to win four Premier Leagues in a row,” he said.

“The difference is most teams are able to lose four in a row in different competitions but just one team won four Premier Leagues in a row. Both sides of the coin can happen.”

The two-week hiatus for international football also came at the right time for Guardiola to reset as he looks for key players to return from a lengthy injury list.

Guardiola’s men find themselves five points behind leaders Liverpool, who face bottom-of-the-table Southampton on Sunday, and can ill afford to drop any more points ahead of a daunting trip to Anfield next weekend.

This is the sixth time a team has been five points clear after 11 Premier League games, with the previous five all finishing as champions.

But City have trailed the leaders by more than five points at one stage in each of the last four seasons and still finished with the title.

“We have to start to win games, we know it,” Guardiola said. “We are coming back at home, hopefully we can perform well and start to take our rhythm.”

‘DREAMER’ AMORIM SET FOR UNITED BOW

Across Manchester, Ruben Amorim takes charge of Manchester United for the first time in Sunday’s trip to Ipswich Town.

United fans have been made to wait three weeks for Ruben Amorim’s arrival since he was confirmed as the successor to Erik ten Hag.

The Portuguese does not face a baptism of fire, but Ipswich are on a high ahead of the visit of the Red Devils after securing their first Premier League win for 22 years before the international break with a shock 2-1 victory at Tottenham.

Amorim has plenty of problems to solve at Old Trafford, but begins with United only four points adrift of the top four despite sitting down in 13th.

Ten Hag managed just one win from seven away games in all competitions this season and Amorim must find a quick tonic to that travel sickness if he is to make a positive first impression with the United fans.

He is the sixth full-time occupant of the Old Trafford hot seat since Alex Ferguson left 11 years ago and he knows the scrutiny will be far more intense than anything he has experienced so far in his coaching career.

Asked if he believes he can eventually restore United to the summit of English football, Amorim told reporters on Friday: “I’m a little bit of a dreamer, I believe in myself. I believe in the club, we have the same mindset. I truly believe in the players, I know you don’t believe a lot but I do. I want to try new things. You guys don’t think it’s possible, I do.”

Third-placed Chelsea begin the weekend’s fixtures on Saturday with manager Enzo Maresca returning to Leicester City who he guided back to the top flight last season.

Fourth takes on fifth in another of Saturday’s eye-catching fixtures when Arsenal hope to kickstart their faltering title challenge at home to Nottingham Forest.

Fixtures (all times GMT):

Saturday: Leicester City v Chelsea (1230), Arsenal v Nottingham Forest, Aston Villa v Crystal Palace, Bournemouth v Brighton & Hove Albion, Everton v Brentford, Fulham v Wolverhampton Wanderers (all 1500), Manchester City v Tottenham Hotspur (1730).

Sunday: Southampton v Liverpool (1400), Ipswich Town v Manchester United (1630).

Monday: Newcastle United v West Ham United (2000).

Published in Dawn, November 23th, 2024