Manchester City exceeding even Guardiola's expectations

Pep Guardiola claims he is as surprised by Manchester City's sensational Premier League form as everyone else.

Published : Dec 23, 2017 10:35 IST

Pep Guardiola's Man City has so far proved unstoppable this season.
Pep Guardiola's Man City has so far proved unstoppable this season.
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Pep Guardiola's Man City has so far proved unstoppable this season.

Manchester City's record-breaking first half of the 2017-18 Premier League season has taken even Pep Guardiola by surprise.

City sits atop the league table after 18 matches with an 11-point cushion to fierce rival Manchester United, the Blues having won 16 games in a row – a Premier League record.

Should it extend that run to 20, City will eclipse Guardiola's previous best from his time with Bayern Munich.Despite having had similar success in Germany and with Barcelona in La Liga, Guardiola is still surprised City has been able to dominate its opponents this season.

Read: 'The whole world is smitten,' Xavi lauds Guardiola's City

However, the coach was keen to dampen talk of City strolling to the title as it heads into a busy schedule at the end of 2017.

"No [I did not expect this], I don't know [what a good points total would have been]," he told a news conference ahead of Saturday's clash with Bournemouth.

"I'm glad to be where we are. I would have liked to be here at the beginning of the season, but I didn't expect it. I repeat, this is not normal. This is not a situation I am used to.

"I expect to lose games and drop more points, but I am glad. We are going to fight to continue to be unbeaten. That is going to happen, we will be beaten. But we are going to fight to be unbeaten.

"There is no doubt about it because of the way we play at Leicester, the way we play against Tottenham and Swansea, the players showed me they are still hungry to win another game. We will drop points and then after that, we will see how we react.

"There are still a lot of points to win and games to play. Making a lot of plans for the future is a big mistake because I don't know how many players we will be fit, how many injuries we will have."

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