Pep Guardiola called Manchester City’s defeat at Wolves a “bad day” but believes his side can still catch Liverpool despite slipping eight points behind in the title race.
Adama Traore’s second-half double helped Wolves stun City 2-0 to leave Liverpool in control of the title race at this very early stage heading into the international break.
For the first time this season Liverpool are favourites for the Premier League title with Sky Bet as City are out to 11/8 and Jurgen Klopp’s men into 4/6.
But Guardiola has faith, saying: “I know these guys. They are still incredibly involved and they can still do it.
“The distance is big, I know that. For many circumstances, they [Liverpool] didn’t drop points. It is better not to think one team is eight points ahead. It is only October.
“It is a lot of points [difference]. But it is better not to think about that. It is better to think about what is next.”
David Silva did strike the woodwork for City at 0-0 but Guardiola’s side created little as they failed to score at home for the first time in 45 Premier League matches and succumbed to their first home defeat since losing to Crystal Palace in December.
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The performance once again exposed holes in City’s back-line with Fernandinho struggling as a makeshift centre-back alongside Nicolas Otamendi, who looked sluggish up against the Wolves press.
“It was a bad day,” Guardiola said.
“That sometimes happens. We started quite well and then we conceded two situations with two loose balls in our build-up – we got a little bit nervous. That sometimes happens. There’s a lot of games to go.
“We lost to a good team. They’re physical and strong in the air and fast on the counter-attack and that’s why.”
This was a timely result for Wolves, who were recording their first Premier League away of the season in a performance full of defensive cohesion and superb counter-attacking. It capped a fantastic week for Nuno Espirito Santo with his side recording three wins on the spin against Watford, Besiktas and City.
“I’m very, very proud,” said Nuno.
“It was a very good performance. More than the performance was the work that the players put in – they ran.
“It’s very difficult to play against City, they are so good and move the ball so fast. It requires a lot of high speed running and it was good.”
Samson Oyedeyi
