Pep Guardiola admitted Manchester City are “struggling” after their fourth consecutive Premier League match without a win.
City lost 1-0 to Aston Villa on Wednesday after three consecutive draws against Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham.
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It leaves the defending champion in fourth place in the table, six points behind leaders Arsenal.
City coach Guardiola said: “The best team is the one that won.”
“Aston Villa were better than us. It was really difficult because they are so physical and able to control so many aspects. That’s why they are there, playing good football and we couldn’t do that.”
“It is my duty, my job, to find a way to come back because over many years together we have managed to find a way to play matches, sometimes we play well, sometimes not, but we always found a way to do it – and now we are struggling.”
City were without Rodri at Villa Park while the Spanish midfielder was suspended for one match.
Guardiola’s side have lost all four domestic matches this season when the 27-year-old was unavailable, but he will return for the trip to Luton Town on Sunday.
“It’s important but today we tried with Manu [Manuel Akanji] And John [Stones]Guardiola said.
“With Rodri we couldn’t beat Liverpool or Tottenham. Of course it’s important but my job is to find a way to do it. Today is simple, the better team won. They were better and we have to accept that.”
Guardiola said afterwards that Villa, who jumped to third in the standings after a 14th successive home win, were now title contenders.
They are just four points off the top and face Arsenal at Villa Park this week but coach Unai Emery refuses to get carried away.
“Not really, there are seven more teams than us competing,” he said.
“We are playing against Arsenal and we will focus on that. We are happy with third place but maintaining it is very difficult.”
