Pep Guardiola admits Man City’s Premier League dominance could be OVER after slipping five points behind Liverpool as Spaniard issues rallying cry to embattled champions

Pep Guardiola conceded that the Premier League may already be out of Manchester City’s reach after he fell to a fourth consecutive defeat for the first time in his managerial career and Liverpool capitalised by going five points clear at the top.

‘Maybe after seven years winning six Premier Leagues, maybe one year another team deserves it,’ said Guardiola after City’s defeat at Brighton.

Fabian Hurzeler’s side came from behind to win with Joao Pedro cancelling out Erling Haaland’s opener before Matt O’Riley scored the winner on his Premier League debut.

‘There is always a first time in life,’ said Guardiola. ‘Normally, people lose games. This is my challenge. I love a challenge. I won’t step back. More than ever, I want to do it. When my players come back, I have no doubt that we will be back at our best,’ the City boss added.

On Sky Sports, Jamie Redknapp described City’s second-half performance as ‘one of the worst halves of football’ that he had seen from a Guardiola side.

Premier League champions City lost for the fourth game in a row as Brighton beat them 2-1

It’s the first time City have lost four games in a row since August 2006, when Stuart Pearce was manager of the club. But Guardiola refused to see it as a sign of City’s era coming to an end.

‘It’s what the people want. We are not finished yet. It’s normal because we win a lot. It happens. Under Jurgen (Klopp), Liverpool after winning the Champions League and Premier League had Virgil van Dijk injured and went to the Europa League,’ he said.

Guardiola added to Sky Sports that Man City need to clear their heads during the international break.   

‘Two [defeats] in the Premier League,’ Guardiola said. ‘We have to count the victories and defeats and we win a lot. We have to count how many victories in a row.

‘It’s not nice. The performance in certain moments is good. We have to change, we have to try to win a game. We are going to be second before international break.

‘We will be better for the fact we will have players to play. The game was there, we played really good the first half. We had clear chances. It is what it is.

‘Clear our head, go international break and the players come back fit. The success we had was because we had few injuries. 

‘I would like players to play the level we had in the first half. You have to build from that.’

Matt O’Riley scored the winner to condemn Guardiola to a fourth-consecutive loss for the first time in his career

Liverpool earned a 2-0 win over Aston Villa on Saturday night to move five points clear

Meanwhile, Hurzeler insisted that his side ‘can beat anyone’ after victory put Brighton in the top four.

’The half-time message was to be more patient, to have more self-belief and to have more courage. It’s more about how the players reacted in the second half with the self-commitment of turning this game and the self-belief they can beat anyone and they showed that,’ said the 31-year-old.

‘Unfortunately. a win over City only gives three points but we should be proud. The club should take the belief from this that they are able to beat everyone and compete with the establishment.