Pep Guardiola warns Manchester City players that Liverpool will give no margin for error

Leaders Liverpool are currently on course to win 99 points this season - one short of City's 100-point record last season

Pep Guardiola has told his Manchester City players that there will be no margin for error as their defence of the Premier League title enters the final months of the campaign.

City return to league action on Tuesday night at St James’ Park against Newcastle United and the defending champions find themselves four points off the pace.

Guardiola’s side have the opportunity to close the gap on leaders Liverpool down to one point, for a day at least, with Jurgen Klopp’s men welcoming Leicester City to Anfield on Wednesday.

With 15 games remaining, Liverpool are currently on course to end with 99 points – one fewer than the 100-point record set by Guardiola’s City last season.

It would seem that City, who are currently on course to finish with 93 points, need to rediscover their form of the 2018-19 campaign in order to defend their crown.

Guardiola accepts that just keeping pace, let alone catching Liverpool, could prove difficult but believes that his players are well aware of the scale of the task awaiting them.

“I would say it’s not the fact of breaking the record, that doesn’t matter really, but we’ll have to win a lot of games to be champions, yes,” he said on Monday. “They are not going to drop too many.

“I don’t know what we need to do to win the title but I’m pretty sure we’ll have to win a lot of games and the first one is Newcastle.

“They are not going to drop too may in the Premier League, we are going to demand to be there. All we can do is be there.

When asked whether he had told his players they had little margin for error, Guardiola said: “They know it – we spoke about it, they know about it.

“Before 85, 87, 89 [points and] you could be champions. Now you have to be over 90 points.”

Both of City’s last two league games – victories over Wolverhampton Wanderers and Huddersfield Town – came after Liverpool had had already won and extended their lead at the top.

City now have the chance to turn the tables and put pressure on Liverpool, but Guardiola is unsure whether the timing of fixtures truly matters down the stretch.

“I don’t know what [Liverpool] think,” he said, when asked if Klopp’s side may feel pressurised by a City win at Newcastle.

“I’m not in the locker room for Jurgen’s club and I think he’s not going to invite me to be there. So really, I don’t know.

“All we can do is win out games and they will feel that Manchester City is always there. It’s all we can do. For ourselves and, of course, to make them feel that we are there. I think it’s normal.

“To play with them one point in front or four or seven or ten – it’s different, of course. But all we can do is the same.

“If, in the next press conference we are winning games and all the questions are like this, my answer will be the same. So you can continue asking me and you will know before my answer what it is.”