This article is part of Football FanCast’s Pundit View series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent quotes from journalists, pundits, players and managers…

Pep Guardiola has said that it would be “crazy” to think about the Premier League title following his side’s 4-1 victory against Burnley.

What did he say?

The Manchester City boss was speaking after his side had dispatched the Clarets thanks to a brace from Gabriel Jesus and strikes from Riyad Mahrez and Rodri.

Following Liverpool’s victory against Everton on Wednesday, though, they are still 11 points behind their rivals, and the former Barcelona boss has indicated that he may concentrate on other competitions.

He said, via The Independent: “Our team is stable and that’s what we want. For the distance we have against Liverpool it would be crazy to think about the title, honestly.

“We have to think about the (Manchester) derby (on Saturday), game by game. There are other competitions – the FA Cup, Carabao Cup and Champions League. It is important to take this rhythm for the next games.”

Don’t believe the “truth”

Jurgen Klopp could hardly have asked for a better start to the season. His team have won 14 of their first 15 matches in the Premier League, and now lead Leicester City, their closest challengers, by eight points. In other competitions, too, they have done well, with them needing just a draw against RB Salzburg to qualify for the next round of the Champions League, whilst they also have a League Cup semi-final ahead of them.

The gap to the Reds does leave the Citizens with an uphill struggle to win the league for a third consecutive year, but the Anfield outfit must be sure not to take Guardiola’s words seriously as it somewhat contradicts what he said at the start of the campaign.

Speaking prior to it, the 48-year-old quipped: “To maintain the health of the team, the focus in the Premier League. The Premier League always is the most important thing, the local competition because it is every weekend.”

That insinuated that the Champions League is not as high up in his thoughts as the Premier League, but now it appears he has changed his tune.

Behind the scenes, there will be absolutely no chance that he will have given up on the title. Last season, they pulled back a seven-point gap, and previously, City came back from an eight-point deficit in 2011/12 as they won the title on the final day.

Considering we are only in November and not even halfway through the campaign, these words from Guardiola should be looked at as pure mind games. Despite their huge gap at the top of the table, Liverpool must not be complacent. There is a long way still to go.

In other news, one Liverpool star was previously a target for Bayern Munich, says Karl-Heinz Rummenigge.