Pep Guardiola warns Man City might have peaked after 500th game

City ended their five-game winless run with a 2-0 success at Leicester

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has celebrated 500 games in charge with a win (Joe Giddens/PA) (PA Wire)

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola says his side’s recent struggles highlight how good most of his 500 games in charge have been.

But although he insisted his side will “come back” he admitted they might never hit the dizzy heights that his reign has witnessed.

City ended their five-game winless run with a 2-0 success at Leicester thanks to goals from Savinho and Erling Haaland as Guardiola celebrated a quincentenary of matches at the helm in style.

It was just their second Premier League victory since the end of October, which is a far cry from the side which has dominated English football for the last seven years under Guardiola.

“It is a lot of games, I am so pleased, and sharing it with the players and staff,” the Catalan said.

“How the staff and players have been since day one to now is a lot. I know the last 13 or 14 games have not been really, really good, but the experiences before, we have to be so pleased with what we have done together.

“It is a lot of games and I couldn’t expect when I landed in the country.

“We have done a lot of things that will be in the memory forever and maybe this period, which feels like a 100 months, will make us realise how nice it was and hopefully we can come back, maybe not be what we were but more close than now.”

City’s title hopes are probably already over, despite their penchant for long winning streaks after Christmas, but Guardiola insists 2024 has to be viewed as a success as they sealed a record-breaking fourth Premier League title in a row.

“In terms of results, we have had an unbelievable year,” he said. “Twelve months of results is 12 months of results, not a month and a half or two months.

“It has been an unbelievable year, we got to the FA Cup final, won a fourth Premier League title in a row and got to the quarter-final of the Champions League, performing really well.

“Today we won and this is what we needed for our minds and souls.”

Guardiola also paid tribute to Haaland, who scored just his second Premier League goal in eight games, revealing the striker has recently become a father for the first time.

It could have been different, though, as the frailties of the last two months – where they lost nine of their previous 13 matches – were still on show.

Leicester lived to regret two missed chances by Jamie Vardy just before either City goal, while Facundo Buonanotte hit the post.

The Foxes have now lost four in a row and are stuck in the bottom three.

“I did take encouragement, I think that is why it hurts that we didn’t take anything out of the game, because of the performance,” boss Ruud van Nistelrooy said.

“We invested a lot in getting a result in a certain way.

“It’s a shame, I wished we could have taken something from the game.

“We created those moments in a great way, there was some excitement going on. As a striker, you know you need a bit of luck in taking those chances, but that is where the game is decided.”