I am delighted and felt like crying after the game there is more to come Premier League – Leicester City v Manchester City
Pep Guardiola said he could cry with pride and that there is “more to come” from his Manchester City team after he reached 500 matches in all competitions as manager of the club with a 2-0 win at Leicester City.
“Yeah definitely [proud],” Guardiola said on reaching his milestone.
“It is better to celebrate it with a victory and the new year. I am so proud. I would cry now. I’m so proud to be a part of this club. Today when they tell me, ‘You are going to do 500 games,” I said ‘Wow.’
“But we are judged in the last 13. Look, in the other 480 games they have been an incredible period and yeah, more to come.”
Guardiola’s incredible record at Man City
Sunday’s win was just Man City’s second victory in 14 matches in all competitions, and their first victory of any kind since beating Nottingham Forest on 4 December. Guardiola’s side have now won two of their last 10 Premier League matches.
But while Man City’s form has been poor of late, Guardiola’s incredible record since joining Man City cannot be ignored.
Guardiola is the first manager to take charge of a Premier League club 500 times in all competitions since David Moyes reached that landmark for Everton in January 2013.
Having joined Man City in the summer of 2016, he is the Premier League’s longest-serving active manager, ahead of Brentford’s Thomas Frank by two years.
If you create a Premier League table starting when Guardiola joined Man City, his team would rank first with a whopping 45 points more than any other team.
Guardiola’s team have also scored 83 more goals than the next-best team (Liverpool) since his arrival at Man City.
PL table since Guardiola’s arrival
Club P W D L Goals Pts
Man City 323 234 45 44 787 747
Liverpool 322 210 72 40 704 702
Arsenal 322 181 60 81 610 603
Chelsea 322 171 71 80 566 584
Spurs 323 173 57 93 610 576
Man Utd 322 164 79 79 519 571
West Ham 322 113 75 134 443 414
Everton 322 110 82 130 383 412
Newcastle 284 105 72 107 392 387
Palace 323 99 86 138 385 383
Man City have won the title in six of eight seasons since Guardiola’s arrival. Last season they became the first team in history to win four consecutive Premier League titles.
In 2022/23 City won the Treble, becoming the first team since Manchester United in 1998/99 to lift the Premier League, UEFA Champions League and FA Cup in the same season.
Only the league’s most decorated manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, has won more Premier League titles (13) than Guardiola’s six.
Pep on ‘bouncing back’ in new year
Having signed a new contract until 2027, Guardiola will hope Sunday’s win at Leicester can get the defending champions back on track, having slipped to fifth, a huge 14 points behind leaders Liverpool.
“Our mood is in a better position,” Guardiola said after the 2-0 win.
“We don’t have energy to sustain 90 minutes. Hopefully the new year can help us bounce back.
“It is not enjoyable right now, it is just relief. We have done incredible things for many years. It is not the best.”
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Erling Haaland ended a four-match goal drought across all competitions with a header at Leicester to move onto 14 goals for the season, three behind Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah in the Golden Boot race.
Haaland is also hoping 2025 brings better fortunes for Man City, who have struggled with injuries during the hectic December fixture run.
“Now it’s New Year’s, so don’t think about football. Six days [without a match]. Now we can rest a little bit!”
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