Liverpool, according to Pep Guardiola, are better than Manchester City because they have more points at the halfway point of the season.

City were fifth and six points behind leaders Arsenal before Christmas, but a productive week saw them catch up with two wins paired with Arsenal’s back-to-back defeats. Liverpool and Aston Villa each gained three points during Christmas, putting them on 42 points heading into 2024, but Liverpool can expand their advantage on New Year’s Day when they play Newcastle.

Even so, Liverpool, Villa, and Arsenal will have played a game more than City, putting Guardiola’s team within striking distance moving into the new year – and a much easier January. After meeting Championship strugglers Huddersfield in the FA Cup next weekend, there is a trip to out-of-form Newcastle, a holiday break, a likely FA Cup fourth round fixture, and a home match against Burnley.

So Guardiola believes his team is well situated to build on their Christmas progress and take advantage of the lighter January workload – even if Liverpool now has the lead in the title race.

Guardiola stated of City’s chances at the halfway point, “We’re not top of the league, Liverpool are better.” We’ve had injuries and issues, but we’ve won important titles, our level is high, and we’re on our way. We all need to rest now. Because January is less intense than November and December, we can plan for what comes next.”

Guardiola revealed in his post-match news conference following Saturday’s triumph over Sheffield United that City might have more points than their current total of 40, citing defeats to Wolves and Aston Villa as games where they were second best.

When asked about the possibility of another mid-season winning streak, the manager responded, “We’ve had a lot of winning streaks in the past, but never when we were there were we thinking about how many games we were going to win.” We had opponents like Liverpool or last season’s Arsenal, and we knew that if we lost a game, we wouldn’t win the Premier League, so they required that we play at our best, and we pushed them to do the same.

“I think at the start of the season, we wanted to qualify for the Champions League, win three trophies – and we only won two because we lost the Community Shield to Arsenal – and be there in the Premier League.” I had a sense we could get more points, especially with three games at home against Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur, and Crystal Palace. We played incredibly well but didn’t receive what we deserved, but it’s football, so it’s great. We’re going to lose points, and so will everyone else, so strive to lose as few as possible.”