Guardiola has not lost hope despite losing to Newcastle

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Manchester City coach Josep Guardiola said he had not lost hope of retaining his Premier League title despite the 1-0 defeat. against Newcastle for the first time since 2005.
City will be seven points behind Liverpool if they win last night in Leicester City, which will make it difficult for Guardiola, who will face tough matches in the next two stages against Arsenal and Chelsea, their rivals in the FA final. Cup.
The Spanish coach was confident that his 100th Premier League match would end in a win, but his team failed to strengthen the first goal of Sergio Aguero of Argentina after just 24 seconds of He scored two goals in the second half, resulting in his first defeat in the league against Newcastle. During the last 23 clashes between them, especially since September 2005.
But Guardiola did not take up arms more than three months before the end of the season, anticipating many twists in Liverpool's attempt to win the league title for the first time since 1990. "We're still in January "said the former coach of Barcelona and Bayern Munich. We have a lot of time, but of course, when you're behind the leaders, you do not want to be too expensive and every game you have is one (at the end of the season), but there are still a lot of games to to play. "
If City won its ninth overall victory, Guardiola would have been at the same distance from Chelsea and Jose Mourinho of Manchester United, top scorer in their first 100 Premier League games (234 for the Spanish against 237 for the Portuguese). The seven points that Liverpool will leave if they win yesterday.
Guardiola acknowledged that "the seven points in the lead are excellent but we are not in April or May, there are still a lot of matches and a lot more can happen." There are a lot of games against teams fighting to stay in this category (Premier League) or who want to participate in the Europa League and the Champions League.We, for our part, we will do our best to be there (at the heart of the title fight) and not give up. "
Unlike Liverpool, who debuted early in the national competition and concentrates his efforts on the league and the Champions League, Guardiola is still fighting on four fronts after Citizen's reached the FA Cup final and the fifth FA Cup round after a crushing 5-0 win over Burnley on Saturday, and the second round of the Champions League where they find themselves facing an easy task against Schalke.
This will give Liverpool first place in the fight against the league title, but there are many tough matches for the Juergen Club, whether against Manchester United at Old Trafford at 27th or Tottenham at home at 32nd and Chelsea on Anfield "Still at step 34.
But it will not be easy either for Citi, as his two consecutive games against Arsenal and Chelsea are not his only trials, but until the end of the season. His rivals, Manchester United, will meet on 21 March in Tottenham on 20 April in Tottenham. April) under phase 35.
Citi should not underestimate rivals such as Everton, Leicester City and Burnley, Guardiola said. We have never underestimated Newcastle. We do not do it at all, that's why we are always in four tournaments. That's why we scored 100 points last season. It's not that we sometimes play the way we want, and that happens. We were not at night and that's one thing I understand very well. "- (AFP)