Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has taken a dig at Premier League leaders Liverpool, highlighting their inability to equal his team’s historic 100-point achievement.
With City’s hopes of a fifth consecutive English title fading, Guardiola’s side currently sits 16 points behind Liverpool.
Meanwhile, the Reds hold a seven-point lead over second-placed Arsenal as they push for their 20th league title, which would match Manchester United’s record.
However, even if Arne Slot’s squad secures the championship, they will fall short of the remarkable 100-point milestone that Guardiola’s City reached in their 2017-18 triumph.
“We took all the records in England. Who would do 100 points now in modern football? I’m waiting,” Guardiola told reporters on Friday.
“Or four in a row? I’m waiting with clubs like Bournemouth, Fulham and Wolves that you have to play.
“The standards, we dictated. Have you seen Liverpool this season? They cannot do 100 points already – 99 but not 100.”
While Liverpool may not surpass fifth-placed City’s record mark, Guardiola accepts his team have fallen behind their rivals this season.
“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?’,” said Guardiola, whose team host top four rivals Newcastle on Saturday.
“He said massively, the difference was unbelievable. It’s the truth. The teams are much, much, much better in all departments. People prepare so well.
“We cannot do it for the (injury) problems we’ve had. 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 deserve not to be like we were. They are human beings, it can happen. 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 believes the difference from previous successful seasons is that City are no longer making the most of their dominance of possession.
“I accept when the opponents have the ball, I’m going to suffer,” he said.
“But now we are suffering when we have the ball. It never happened before and, (right) now, I cannot change it. We are suffering because we are human beings.”
