Guardiola: The whole country wants Manchester City to fail

Spanish manager Pep Guardiola watched Manchester City move three points clear at the top of the Premier League — then claimed that everyone else in the country wanted Liverpool to beat them to the title.

Four days after their shock Champions League elimination by Real Madrid, City hammered Newcastle United 5-0 to put more daylight between themselves and Liverpool, who drew 1-1 with Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday.

Guardiola appeared determined to build a siege mentality at City by claiming that the rest of England is desperate for his team to slip up in their remaining games against Wolverhampton Wanderers, West Ham United and Aston Villa.

“Everyone in this country supports Liverpool,” Guardiola, the City manager, told beIN SPORTS. “The people want Liverpool to win more than us.

“The media and everyone do, of course because Liverpool has an incredible history in European competition — not in the Premier Leagues, because they’ve won one in 30 years — but it’s not a problem at all.

“I know we sometimes [make people] uncomfortable, but I don’t care.”

City put on one of their best performances to defeat Newcastle thanks to two goals from Raheem Sterling, and one apiece for Rodri, Aymeric Laporte and Phil Foden.

The win came at a cost though, with centre back Rúben Dias suffering a hamstring injury that will keep him out for the rest of the season.

Guardiola said John Stones (hamstring) and Kyle Walker (ankle) will not be fit for the final three matches of the campaign and will miss England’s Nations League games next month. Nathan Aké will miss Wednesday’s game at Molineux because of an ankle problem so Guardiola will have to play Fernandinho at centre back alongside Laporte.

“We have 13 ½ players, plus the academy, for these games,” he said. “When that happens, everyone has to do more and more to help.”

Eddie Howe, the Newcastle manager, felt City were helped by the home supporters, who Guardiola believed were more vocal than usual, in trying to lift their team after Wednesday’s disappointment when they were eliminated despite leading the tie by two goals going into the final minute of normal time in the second leg.

Howe admitted that his team were vastly inferior to City. “There is a gap between us and Liverpool and City,” he said. “That’s the same for most clubs.”