Tottenham’s biggest Premier League rivals now – Cardiola

Pep Cardiola believes Tottenham are Premier League title contenders, but the Manchester City manager believes it could be a more open title since coming to England.

City lost 2-0 to Tottenham on Saturday as a result of which they are 11th, with eight points behind leaders Spurs, but have played a low game.

With just 10 goals in eight league games, this is City’s worst return since managing six games after the same number of matches in 2006-07.

He said Jose Mourinho’s Spurs title deserved to be considered threats.

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“They top the league, so they are now more competitors than anyone else,” he said at a news conference.

“Of course, there are a lot of points to play, we’m eight points down, we have a game less, but we have a lot of teams ahead of us. We have to start to win, otherwise it’s not possible, we know that.

“As for the game, I think we’m not far off, but we’re struggling to score goals right now, especially not for one person or another. This is the truth, 10 goals … not enough.”

Since coming to City in 2016, the Cardiola Club has helped him win two Premier League titles – 19 points in 2017-18 and one campaign following.

The other two were beaten by Chelsea by seven points in 2016-17 and Liverpool by 18 points last season.

Guardiola thinks this could be the most open title match since coming to England, with Spurs five points clear of sixth-placed Aston Villa.

“Well, the first year, I remember Chelsea, at first it was very tight, but eventually they got used to it. The second season, the third and the fourth, it was twice as clear for City and once for Liverpool,” he said.

“It looks like [the most open title race], But again it’s nine [sic] Games I think we still played a lot.

“We’ll see. You know how to play a lot of games this season. We’ll see.”

City are 12 points lower from eight games at this point in the Premier League campaign, which has amassed 10 appearances since 2008-09.