from: Leicester City vs Manchester City
What: English Premier League
where: King Power Stadium, Leicester, United Kingdom
when: 12:30 PM (12:30 GMT) on Sunday
Follow the live broadcast of texts, photos and comments on Al Jazeera.
Pep Guardiola insists he will not quit troubled Manchester City as he seeks to halt the champions’ stunning decline.
The Spaniard, whose side visit Leicester City on Sunday, recently signed a contract extension for just two years, but City’s poor form has raised questions about his future. A run of nine defeats in 13 games, with just one win in that unfortunate period, has sparked suggestions that the City manager may decide to resign if he cannot find a solution to his team’s problems.
Having led City to six Premier League titles in the past seven seasons, Guardiola insists he still has the desire to turn things around.
“I will try, I will keep going. Sometimes you think that the bad period will end sooner or that it will be easier to fix it, but it takes more time. “I will not give up. I want to be here. I want to do that, and with the situation we have, we have to do that.
“Of course, I want that, everyone wants that. I don’t want to disappoint my people in terms of the club, the fans and the people who love this club. I think all of us in our work want to do it well and please people. That is undeniable, not a question mark.”
“The biggest test is to come back, but we have done it before.”
Guardiola will not criticize City’s crisis
Injuries were a major factor in City’s decline, leaving them in seventh place in the English Premier League.
Most notably, the huge gap left by Ballon d’Or winner Rodri as he recovers from a long-term knee injury. Nor was it helped by an erratic performance in an inconsistent season by the usually prolific Erling Haaland, who missed a penalty that could have sealed City’s victory over Everton in their final match.
Haaland scored only once in his last seven matches, but Guardiola refused to blame the Norwegian striker or any of his teammates.
“I don’t have the ability to start complaining and pointing at people. It happened, it’s life, it’s football, so let’s try again.”
“That’s why we’ve had success, because it’s always not enough, we’ll try again and again. That’s why we’ve won so many titles.
“Every three days it was a game and we won, won, won for many months and many years. Now, we have to do the same when the results are not good.
Lots of movement pic.twitter.com/yumQgXPdfA
— English Premier League (@premierleague) December 28, 2024
City still have doubts about the fitness of several players as they bid to return to winning ways against struggling Leicester, who have won just once of their last 11 matches.
“Sometimes you get injured,” Guardiola said. “Over the number of years we were incredibly consistent, but now, yes, we are a little bit down and the main reason is that a lot of important players are injured.
“But I saw the spirit of the team, how we trained this week, how focused they are, how they try to train.”
Leicester City team news
Jordan Ayew, suspended after the striker was booked for the fifth time this season during the defeat to Liverpool in Leicester’s last match.
Captain Jamie Vardy should be ready to return from a minor injury, but Wout Weiss is once again missing from the defence.
Man City team news
Long-term absent Rodri was joined by Ruben Dias, John Stones, Ederson, Kyle Walker, Jack Grealish and Matthews Nunes in the 1-1 draw with Everton.
Face to face
This is the 128th meeting between the two clubs, in which City won on 64 occasions, while Leicester City emerged from the spoils after 32 matches.
City have won their last five league meetings, scoring 10 goals in the last three of them, while Leicester were only able to break this streak by winning the Community Shield after the 2020-21 season in which they won the title.
Leicester’s last league win came that season in a 5-2 win over City, which included a Vardy hat-trick. The reverse fixture at the King Power Stadium resulted in a 2-0 scoreline that gave City the three points and began their current run of dominance over the Foxes in the league.
Where does your side currently sit?#Celebration supplies pic.twitter.com/AT9MZPPnz2
— English Premier League (@premierleague) December 28, 2024
