Guardiola offers unusual excuse after Man City loss

Pep Guardiola has offered a bizarre explanation following Manchester City’s 1-0 defeat at Tottenham - and admitted the journey was like going to “northern Europe”.

City suffered their second loss in four Premier League matches at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium thanks to Harry Kane’s first-half strike as they missed the chance to close the gap on leaders Arsenal at the top of the table. It was a poor performance from Guardiola’s side as they lacked guile and creativity throughout.

They remain second, five points behind Arsenal although Mikel Arteta’s men have got a game in hand. After the game, Guardiola gave a rather unusual answer to reporters in his post-match press conference.

He said: “Coming from Manchester to London, it’s like going to northern Europe. It’s four hours, 20 minutes to get to a hotel. It’s so exhausting, I’m sorry. We need to come back to Manchester and prepare the game against Aston Villa.”

City have to come down to London seven times in the Premier League calendar year, with Fulham, Arsenal, Chelsea, West Ham, Palace and Brentford the other six sides. They have to travel even further to get to south coast trio Brighton, Southampton and Bournemouth - with the latter expected to take in excess of five hours from Manchester.

Meanwhile, their closest away day is across the city to Manchester United, while Everton, Liverpool and Leeds are all under an hour’s drive. Newcastle will also take more than two hours, with Leicester, Aston Villa and Wolves in and around the same distance.

Guardiola also spoke about his side’s mentality and how they now have a chance to bounce back against Aston Villa next weekend. Despite his team’s recent blip in form, he claimed that he has a “lot of gratitude for these players” and will fight to improve their situation._Mirror