Pep Guardiola gives honest thoughts on Man City’s ‘team spirit’ as the Premier League champions continue to nosedive with just one win in 13 games

Pep Guardiola insisted that Manchester City’s spirit has not been knocked by an unfathomable dip in results as they go in search of only a second win in 14 games today.

City head to Leicester City six points behind the top four having drawn against Boxing Day with a squad missing eight first-team stars.

Those included Jack Grealish and Kyle Walker, with City saying that a muscular issue and illness kept the pair out.

Guardiola added that goalkeeper Ederson ‘doesn’t feel good’ and is adamant that the application of his squad is unquestioned.

‘You expect it a little bit down and the main reason is having so many important players injured,’ the City boss said. 

‘I saw the team spirit, how we train, how focused they are, how they try to practice. We saw that against Everton but unfortunately we couldn’t get the result.

The Spaniard claimed that City’s ‘team spirit’ has not been knocked despite just one win in 13 matches

Iliman Ndiaye’s strike at the Etihad for Everton on Thursday meant City dropped points again

‘The biggest test is to come back again – we have done that before. That makes you remember how good the past was, that’s the truth. This makes you realise how good it is what we have done in the past.

‘Try to be as calm as possible, in the next game do it better, with players coming back. That’s what we want to try, that’s all I want to do.’

Mail Sport understands that the recurrence of John Stones’ foot injury sustained at Aston Villa last week is not serious but resulted from the central defender being rushed back into the fold.

Guardiola has admitted that City are at risk of missing out on the Champions League amid a torrid run. The champions need to pick up points over the next month before a tough six-match block against Chelsea, Arsenal, Newcastle United, Liverpool, Tottenham and Nottingham Forest.

‘I will keep going,’ he added. ‘I will not give up. I want to be here, I want to do it and with the situation we have now I have to do it.

‘I don’t want to disappoint my people in terms of the club, the fans, the people who love this place.

‘I don’t have it in my education to start complaining, to point at people. It’s life, it’s football so let’s try it again. That’s why all the time we have had success it’s because always it is never enough. We will try it again and again and again. That’s why we won a lot of titles.’