Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has insisted that he is determined to lead the club out of a nightmare rut that has seen them lose nine of their last 13 matches.
In what is comfortably the worst run of results of Guardiola's sparkling managerial career – that has seen him win trophies galore at Barcelona, Bayern Munich and City – the Spaniard has seen his team drop down to seventh in the Premier League table, 14 points behind leaders Liverpool.
City head into Sunday's game at Leicester City having won just once in 13 games – at home against Nottingham Forest on December 4 – after what has been a dramatic slump in form.
Nine of the 72 defeats suffered by Guardiola at City have come in this run and they have now lost seven of their past eight away games in all competitions – their worst streak away from the Etihad Stadium since 2011.
The Spaniard – who signed a contract extension in November – had led City to six of the past seven Premier League titles and is facing scrutiny like never before but has vowed to turn around the club's form.
“I will try, I will keep going,” said Guardiola on Saturday, ahead of the game against the Foxes at the King Power Stadium. “I will not give up. I want to be here. I want to do it and, with the situation that we have, we have to do it.
“Of course I want it, everyone wants it. I don't want to disappoint my people in terms of the club, the fans, the people who love this club.
“I think all of us in our job want to do it well and please the people. That is undeniable, not a question mark. The biggest test is to come back again, but we have done that before.”
Thursday's home draw with Everton saw Erling Haaland – the Premier League's Golden Boot winner in both his seasons at City – miss a second-half penalty with the Norwegian now having scored just once in seven games.
Guardiola had defended Haaland before the match insisting results were down to the team as a whole not just the misfiring striker, who started the campaign with 10 goals in his first five games, but has only managed three in 13 since.
And the Catalonian refused to point the finger of blame at any of his players ahead of Sunday's game. “I don't have it in my education to start complaining, to point at people,” he said. “It's happened, it's life, it's football, so let's try it again.
“That's why we have had success – because always it is never enough, we will try it again and again and again. That's why we won a lot of titles.
“Every three days it was a game and win, win, win for many, many months and years. Now we have to do the same when results are not good.”
Injuries have certainly contributed to City's situation with Ballon d'Or-winning midfielder Rodri is out for the season with a knee injury, while Ruben Dias, John Stones, Ederson, Kyle Walker, Jack Grealish and Matheus Nunes all missed the Everton game.
“Sometimes you have injuries,” Guardiola added. “For how many years we were incredibly consistent but now, yes, we're a little bit down and the main reason is having so many important players injured.
“But I saw the team spirit, how we trained this week, how focused they are, how they try to practice. We saw that [against Everton] but unfortunately we couldn't get the result we wanted.”
Leicester, meanwhile, have problems pf their own having dropped into the relegation zone following three defeats in a row that has them concede 10 goals.
And manager Ruud van Nistelrooy knows his side have to put in a “great performance” if they are to get anything from the match.
“Everybody knows, when you look at the team and how they played [against Everton], I know the quality of that squad and manager so I am focusing on that and the quality we will face,” said the Dutchman, who was interim manager at City's rivals Manchester United before taking over at Leicester.
“We have to prepare for a great performance in our side. Being where we are we need to be spot on in all parts of football to get a result.
“It is something which needs constant improvement and pressure to perform and get results. It is from game to game, we evaluate the game and make a game plan to get a result against City.”
