Guardiola happy with form despite loss

Cape Town - Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola remained upbeat after his side's title chances were delivered a blow by a 3-1 defeat to Chelsea at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday.

The Citizens began the season in tremendous form with six Premier League wins in a row to have many believing they would run away with the title this season.

However, as is often the case in the English top flight, they were soon brought crashing back down to earth and Guardiola began to understand why the Premier League crown is such a difficult one to win.

Their recent patchy form has seen them drop down to fourth in the table, while Chelsea hold a three-point lead at the top, but Guardiola maintains he is happy with his side played against the Blues, despite the loss.

"I am more satisfied with the way we played than the last two games away, when we won and we were happy [only] because we won," he said. "In that moment there was a worry.

"I said to the players, 'Guys we have to start to play better, like in the beginning of the season. Be free in your mind, play, take the ball, be aggressive with the ball. It doesn't matter what happens, play in attack'.

"They did it, and did it I think quite well, but we didn't win, so we always have something to improve.

"In football at that level you cannot expect to have 15-20 chances, it is impossible, but we had a lot. The problem is you have to put the ball inside (the goal)."

Guardiola's men next face a tricky trip to the King Power Stadium on Saturday where they will face a struggling Leicester team looking to bounce back from a defeat to Sunderland.

Kick off is at 19:30.