Manchester City vs Chelsea: Pep Guardiola believes Antonio Conte will test his team's true level

With fixtures against Liverpool and Arsenal on the horizon, Guardiola knows his team's mettle will be tested this month

Guardiola knows his side face a challenging winter (Getty)

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has declared ahead of a collision with the manager who has unexpectedly upstaged him as the biggest new hit in this Premier League season that the sequence of matches beginning with the visit of Chelsea will be a test of whether his players are at a title-winning level.

The Spaniard faces a side reinvigorated by Antonio Conte, top the table by a point from third-placed City. With visits to champions Leicester and Jürgen Klopp’s second-placed Liverpool as well as the visit of Arsenal this month, Guardiola made no pretence that he will know if he has the edge on Conte by the end of December.

“This month is so important, until the end of the year,” he said. “We play against the last champions, Leicester, next week and Watford at home and the other ones. We're going to see our level.

“I'm not thinking about what happens if we win or we don't win the games. I'm most thinking about what will be our level and if we will be able to fight until the last. I'm curious about how we compete, how our football will be against these three, four really good teams. After that we're going to analyse. I want to see how my team react against the good teams. Against Barcelona for example, in the Champions League, we were OK, we were there, we played good. I'm curious to see my team against top players and top teams."

Saturday’s lunchtime kick-off presents potentially the division’s most fascinating contest yet: a clash of two managers who in a little over 100 days of Premier League competition have delivered vastly improved performance from teams operating with similar squads. Both have reinvigorated struggling talents - Raheem Sterling in Guardiola’s case and Eden Hazard for Conte.

Guardiola has never faced a Conte team before and refused to be drawn into negativity about the Italian’s histrionics and bluntness which, it was put to him, can upset other coaches. "I will try to focus on my game. It's not a question for me," Guardiola said.

He jokingly claimed that Conte had the edge over him with his animated touchline manner - something they shared. "I don't know who moves their arms quicker, him or [me],” said Guardiola. “Does it help the team? I don't think so. They don't hear you. I [don’t want to talk] about Antonio but I think I confuse [the players]. I cannot control it. He will be stronger than me in that sense.

Guardiola - without the injured Vincent Kompany again but otherwise possessing a full-fit squad - enters the game on the back of three successive home draws. Chelsea certainly have the momentum, with seven successive Premier League victories and none of the energy sapping European midweek fixtures. But they have played no side as strong as City in that run.

Guardiola admitted that Conte had an advantage over him with no European games.

“It's what it is,” he said. “I'm pretty sure they'd like to play in the Champions League. Liverpool too. They are fighting for that. That's why the qualification just for the top four will be tough. But it's what it is. We can't go complaining, saying we are unlucky, but that's the truth. When you have one week, you have more time to prepare. When you play Champions League it's so demanding, physically and mentally.”