Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola says he will “not give up” as he aims to turn around the champions’ recent form.
City, who have won six of the past seven Premier League titles, have won just one of their past 13 league games, losing nine.
It has put Guardiola under immense pressure, but he has vowed not to walk away or blame any of his players.
“I will try, I will keep going,” he said before City travel to Leicester on Sunday afternoon.
“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 [to end the bad run], 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.”
Guardiola said injuries are the primary reason for City’s poor form, with several key players missing recent games including the 1-1 home draw with Everton on Thursday.
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 also missed the Everton game.
“Sometimes you have injuries,” Guardiola said. “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 practise. We saw that against Everton but unfortunately we couldn’t get the result we wanted.”
