Pep Guardiola said that Manchester City’s hopes of winning the Premier League were ended yesterday after they slumped to the heaviest league loss of his managerial career.
City were thrashed by Everton, leaving them ten points behind the leaders, Chelsea. Guardiola, who won league championships in six of his past seven seasons at his two previous clubs, accepted the gap to Chelsea was too big to close.
“Yes, ten is a lot of points,” he said. “The second one [place] is three points, so we have to see. I spoke with the players for the last three weeks to forget about the table. Focus on the next game. After that, at the end of the season, we’ll analyse how our level was, our performance, the coach, the players.”
Manchester United remain outside the Premier League’s top four after a draw at home to Liverpool in which José Mourinho and Jürgen Klopp were involved in a touchline dispute.
The Liverpool manager accused his opposite number of trying to get Roberto Firmino sent off at Old Trafford after the pair had to be separated by fourth official Craig Pawson when Ander Herrera clashed with the Liverpool forward.
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The two managers shook hands at the final whistle and Mourinho denied that he was guilty of trying to influence the referee. “He thought I was asking for his player to be sent off. I wasn’t,” Mourinho said. “There was no problem at all. I think the game was correct. I think the players gave everything but in an emotional and professional way.”
Klopp had a different take on the spat. The Liverpool manager said: “He [Mourinho] wanted the minimum of a yellow card, I don’t know. We could not have the same opinion in this moment.”
