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

Before Christmas, City was fifth and six points behind leaders Arsenal, but a productive week saw them catch up with two wins sandwiched between Arsenal’s back-to-back defeats. Liverpool and Aston Villa both gained three points during the holidays, putting them on 42 points heading into 2024, but Liverpool can extend their lead on New Year’s Day when they face Newcastle.

Despite this, Liverpool, Aston Villa, and Arsenal will have played one more game than City, putting Guardiola’s squad in striking distance heading into the new year – and a lot easier January. Following the FA Cup tie against Championship strugglers Huddersfield next weekend, there is a trip to out-of-form Newcastle, a holiday break, a possible FA Cup fourth round match, and a home match against Burnley.

So, even if Liverpool now leads the title race, Guardiola believes his team is ideally placed to build on their Christmas progress and take advantage of the lower January workload.

Guardiola said of City’s chances at the half-way point, “We’re not top of the league, Liverpool are better.” We’ve had injuries and problems, but we’ve won key championships, our level is high, and we’re on the right track. We all need to get some rest now. We can plan for what happens next because January is less hectic than November and December.”

Guardiola hinted in his post-match press conference following Saturday’s victory over Sheffield United that City could have more points than their current total of 40, mentioning defeats to Wolves and Aston Villa as examples of games where they were second best.

When asked if another mid-season winning run was possible, the manager said, “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 faced opponents such as Liverpool and last season’s Arsenal, and we knew that if we lost a game, we wouldn’t win the Premier League, so they expected us to 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 feeling we’d receive more points, especially with three home games against Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur, and Crystal Palace. We performed extremely well but did not earn the credit we deserved, but it’s football, so it’s fine. We’ll lose points, as will everyone else, so try to lose as little as possible.”