Pep Guardiola wants Man City players to forget about big deficit to Liverpool

Pep Guardiola claimed he was not thinking about the gap after his Manchester City side fell eight points behind Liverpool in the Premier League.

Adama Traore struck twice in the final 10 minutes as Wolves capitalised on a sluggish performance from the champions to claim a shock 2-0 win at the Etihad Stadium.

It was City’s second loss of the season after a similarly surprising defeat at Norwich last month.

City are still second in the table but the gap is already a sizeable one with Liverpool having won all eight of their games.

“It is a lot of points,” said Guardiola. “They didn’t drop points. From many circumstances they haven’t dropped points.

“But when one team is eight points in front it is better not to think too much about that. It is better to think about what is next.”

City were disjointed in the first half and were fortunate not to be punished for a number of defensive lapses as Wolves spurned a handful of gilt-edged chances.

It seemed the visitors would be made to pay for their profligacy as City cranked up the pressure after the break and hit the crossbar through David Silva.

But Wolves held firm and eventually earned their reward when Raul Jimenez broke clear to set up Traore for a cool finish after 80 minutes.

It was his first goal in over a year but he was not finished as he was sent through by Jimenez again for a repeat strike in added time.

“It was a bad day, sometimes it happens,” said Guardiola. “We got a bit nervous.

“We lost to a good team that were really well-organised, good physically, strong in the air and so fast on the counter-attack.”

Wolves’ performance made light of their difficult start to the season and the fact they were in action in the Europa League in Turkey on Thursday night. Their second victory of the campaign lifted them to a healthier-looking 11th in the table heading into the international break.

Wolves boss Nuno Espirito Santo said: “I’m very proud. It was a very good performance – but more than the performance was the work the players did.

“It is very difficult to play against City because they are so good and move the ball so fast. It requires a lot of high-speed running. The boys worked very hard and that was good.”