Guardiola: Constant missed chances costing City

Pep Guardiola has accepted a lack of cutting edge is costing his Manchester City side.

City's Premier League title hopes have been hit by a run of just one win in six games.

They now trail leaders Arsenal by nine points as they prepare for a tough test against champions Liverpool in their game in hand on Sunday.

City were well beaten by rivals Manchester United last month but Guardiola thinks missed chances proved costly in their frustrating recent draws against Sunderland, Chelsea, Brighton and Tottenham.

The City manager said: "Don't misunderstand me -- when we will not be closer in the Premier League it belongs to us, when we miss the chances.

"When you miss chances in a thousand games lately -- in the six-yard box, from near the penalty spots, with the keeper one-against-one -- I've said, 'Wow, [with those goals] we have more points and are closer'.

"But the margins in the Premier League, at the highest level, [are small].

"We won in the Bernabeu but played much worse than in many games recently in the Premier League.

"Sometimes it is like that, you have to accept it."

City have undergone a squad rebuild since winning the treble in 2023 and following up a year later by winning a fourth successive Premier League crown.

Guardiola recognises they do not have the consistency they once had.

He said: "Now we don't have that.

"The year of the treble, in the last two, three months, we were starting [with the same] 11 all the time but if Julián [Alvarez] came in, or Riyad [Mahrez], or the central defenders, everybody knew it already with Gundo [Ilkay Gündogan], Rodri, Kevin [De Bruyne], Bernardo [Silva].

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"But that is a process, that didn't come for the year of the treble or quadruple immediately in one day. It's years and years to do that.

"Now we've changed a lot. That's why sometimes I've said, 'OK, we can be better' but, at the same time, maybe we could not expect, with the problems we have had with injuries, [too much].

"I don't know what's going to happen in the next weeks, in the next month, but maybe it could be worse. That's why I try to be positive."