Guardiola expects Manchester City response against Watford

Pep Guardiola is confident Manchester City will bounce back from the disappointment of seeing their Premier League winning streak come to an end at Crystal Palace.

For the first time since August, City failed to take all three points, held to a goalless draw by Palace at Selhurst Park on Sunday.

It meant Guardiola failed to equal the winning run of 19 successive games he achieved with Bayern Munich in 2013-14.

However, City are still 14 points clear at the top of the table and Guardiola believes his squad have the character to recover quickly against Watford on January 2.

“The character is always there, you would not have character and make the numbers we did this season,” he told a media conference.

“The character you have to prove every day, once again, once again, the big clubs forget immediately whether they won or lost, they think merely of the next one, and that is what we try to do at this club.”

City may be favourites to lift the league title this season after a stunning start to the campaign, but Guardiola is having none of it, instead demanding his squad take things one game at a time.

He added: “We are in a good position. I have said many times to the players ‘do not think of winning titles, not winning titles, focus on the next game and what you have to do against Watford’.

“If you think about far away you are going to distract from what we have to do today, and that will be a big, big mistake. 

“We just need to focus on what we have to do, correct our mistakes from [the Palace draw] and keep going. And at the end of the season we will see.”