Pep Guardiola takes defiant Champions League stance after equalling unwanted Man City record | OneFootball

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has not given up hope in his side's quest for Champions League qualification, but conceded that his weary team could be helped by a campaign without the strain of European football.

Nottingham Forest were worthy 1-0 winners at home to the waning Premier League champions on Saturday, condemning City to their ninth top-flight defeat of the season which equals the club's record for league losses during Guardiola's glittering tenure. In fact, this tally of top-flight reverses is the joint-highest the Catalan coach has overseen across his entire managerial career.

Chelsea's scrappy win over Leicester City on Sunday nudged City down into fifth place. The Premier League's top five are expected to qualify for next season's Champions League, but sixth-placed Brighton are just one point behind the champions and face City next weekend.

"Qualification for the Champions League would be a big success but you have to [earn] it," Guardiola warned after the defeat to Forest. "Whether there are five, six or seven [places] you have to win games.

"It would not be good [if City didn't qualify] but I saw what happened with other Premier League teams in the past. Not being in the Champions League would be a problem but there are teams who didn't qualify who have come back and they are there now."

Pep Guardiola has been scratching his head all season / Crystal Pix/MB Media/GettyImages

Chelsea infamously missed out on European football entirely after a disastrous 2015/16 campaign before romping to the top-flight title the following season under Antonio Conte in Guardiola's first Premier League season. Arsenal have also returned to the continental elite after a six-year drought and Aston Villa are currently enjoying their first-ever Champions League campaign.

"How many years were Manchester City in the Champions League by February? Ten years? No, more than that. And before that they never played in the competition," Guardiola added. "We are used to doing exceptional things and we have to try to do it but we wake up in the morning and try to continue and do a good season next season.

"In knockout games sometimes details make the difference but in the Premier League over 38 games if you are not able to finish in the first four or five it is because we were not good enough. We will have to continue next season, but we have ten games, it is still in our hands and we are going to try."

Since taking over Barcelona's first team in 2008, Guardiola has never failed to qualify for Europe's premier club competition. Yet, this injury-ravaged City side is delivering comfortably the worst results of his coaching career. Never before has a Guardiola team finished a top-flight season with a goal difference of less than 41 - City's current tally stands at just 15.