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Friday 1 February 2019 14:56, UK
Pep Guardiola says he has no issue with motivating his Manchester City side despite their shock defeat to Newcastle earlier this week.
The manner of the defeat against Newcastle, who had two shots on target and scored twice, has seen City's desire scrutinised this week.
But Guardiola pointed to the fact that they are still challenging on four fronts as the clearest sign that his side remain hungry to defend their title.
"Of course we are not happy about our last performance [against Newcastle]," Guardiola said ahead of Sunday's visit of Arsenal.
"Everybody knows. We knew immediately at half time, and after the game we knew that, but without the motivation we would not be here where we are in all the competitions. It would not be possible.
"Many times when people say we are the perfect team and we are invincible my answer is always the same - every game we must improve, every game is a challenge to see what we can do better and sometimes there are ups and down
"Look at the results for this week - it was difficult for United and all the teams in the top six to win their games. There are a lot of games and to sustain that sometimes it is tough. That is the challenge."
City face what looks to be a tricky run of games, hosting Arsenal on Sunday, live on Sky Sports, before Premier League clashes against Everton and Chelsea.
Acknowledging they have a tough week ahead, Guardiola said: "The situation we have this week is the same as the last two or three months.
"The only way I know after a negative result is to focus on playing. And to have the mentality that it is the first of February, there are still a lot of points to play for and a lot of things are going to happen."
