Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has refused to rule his side out of the title race despite moving to seven games without a win on Sunday.
City were thoroughly second best at Anfield as Liverpool opened up a nine-point gap to Arsenal in the Premier League table. The Gunners had closed the gap to six points on Saturday evening with a thumping 5-2 victory over West Ham but nobody was stopping Liverpool on Sunday.
Arsenal now find themselves to be the closest challengers, along with Chelsea, for Liverpool this season with City dropping out of the top four this weekend. Despite this, Guardiola refused to rule out a run at the title this campaign even if he did admit to it being a long shot.
"I said before that game that we are not in the position with the results we are getting to think about big, big targets but the season is long," he explained on Sky Sports. "We have to try to make a result, some players will come back.
"There are many things to fight [for] and we are going to try." City made history last season when they won the Premier League for the fourth time in a row.
But those celebrations after pipping Arsenal to the crown seem a long time ago. The Gunners will be hoping to claw some points back on Liverpool in midweek when they host Manchester United at the Emirates Stadium while City return to the Etihad Stadium to face Nottingham Forest.
As for Liverpool, the leaders will travel to Newcastle United on Wednesday.
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Arsenal Manager Mikel Arteta, Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard and Gabriel Jesus with the Arsenal Therapy Dog Win during the Arsenal Men's team group shoot at London Colney on September 18, 2023
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