‘The title race is not over’ – Pep Guardiola insists Man City have not won league yet

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has given a defiant message to talkSPORT – ‘The title race is not over.’

City were held to a 1-1 draw at Southampton on Saturday, opening the door for Liverpool to slightly reduce the gap when they play on Sunday.

When Guardiola’s side beat Chelsea 1-0 last weekend – their 12th straight Premier League win – many suggested that the title race was done and dusted.

City are currently 12 points clear at the top, though Liverpool retain two games in hand and so have the opportunity to cut this deficit to just six points.

“That’s good, that’s good, the title race is not over,” Guardiola told talkSPORT’s Declan McCarthy after the Southampton draw.

“You said, ‘Oh the Premier League is over,’ now people will realise it’s not over.

“That is good for our side.”

When asked if this is the message he will convey to his players, Guardiola added: “No, no, no, they know it for a long time.

“Today we played much better than the previous games.”

He added: “We missed chances, we could not win, but the performance was excellent.”

When it was noted that he seemed frustrated on the touchline, Guardiola insisted: “Absolutely not, absolutely not, absolutely not.

“How [can I] be frustrated with that performance of the team?

“Tell me the reason why.

“If you judge the result, it’s the result. If you judge the performance, it was excellent.

“We didn’t score, it happened, that’s it.

“In another game when we played not as good as today, we will win.

“We had the chances, we created against a tough side, we played really good.”