Guardiola claims Man City a victim of their own success

Pep Guardiola believes Manchester City are paying the price for having raised the bar in how many points it takes to win the Premier League.

Guardiola's men have won the title in the past two seasons with record tallies of 100 and 98 points, but travel to Arsenal on Sunday already 17 points behind runaway leaders Liverpool.

"I didn't want to think it too much in the beginning of the season but I thought will we be able to do it again?" Guardiola admitted in his pre-match press conference.

"When we arrived here the standard was 85 points to win. Now you have to reach almost 100 points to win the Premier League.

"That is why we helped Liverpool to make this step, buy incredible top players and now it is the level you have to reach. All the teams that are behind Liverpool, we know we have to make 100 points."
"I would say that is normal, that the people can expect it. That is going to help us, the situation we are in is going to help us in the future."