'We can do better', says Guardiola as City stay in title hunt

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola accepted his side "can be better" after a 1-0 win over West Ham at the Etihad on Wednesday kept them in the hunt to retain their Premier League title and a remarkable quadruple of trophies.

Just days after a penalty shoot-out win over Chelsea at Wembley saw City to victory in the League Cup final, Guardiola's men were indebted to a 59th-minute spot-kick from Sergio Aguero for a victory that left the English champions a point behind leaders Liverpool.

With the League Cup already in their trophy cabinet, a City side also still involved in the FA Cup and Champions League could yet end the season having won a remarkable four major pieces of silverware in the one campaign.

They didn't make life easy for themselves on Wednesday and were indebted to what West Ham manager Manuel Pellegrini labelled a "soft" penalty, awarded when Felipe Anderson made contact with City substitute Bernardo Silva, for giving Aguero the chance to score the lone goal.

"We played so well. You see the result, 1-0, you think it could be better," said Guardiola. "Of course we created an incredible amount of chances.

"The first five minutes could be 2-0, with three clear chances. But the performance in the way we defended second balls, we did everything. After 120 minutes (against Chelsea), the tension we played with was amazing. We made an incredible performance. I'm so delighted with the way we play."
Guardiola added: "We could have scored a second one, it could have been easy. Unfortunately it was so demanding. "Every three days is tough. We can better. If we scored the second or third goal but we played a really good game."
- 'Not a penalty' -
============
"To be generous, it was a little soft," said Pellegrini. "That is too generous really. It was not a penalty."
"Lanzini had the same thing but didn't go down, so the referee didn't whistle. "They didn't score another goal, we defended very well. (Lukasz) Fabianski's first save was in minute 61 and after that they only had a couple of chances. You don't normally see Man City in the last four minutes trying to delay the game to finish 1-0."