The China Mail - Guardiola seeks solution to Man City's second half struggles

City scored twice late on to snatch a 2-1 victory away to Liverpool on Sunday and move back within six points of the Gunners.

However, those were the first goals Guardiola's men have scored in the second half of any Premier League game in 2026.

City blew a 2-0 first half lead to draw 2-2 against Tottenham the week before and were again outplayed for large parts of the second half at Anfield after dominating the first 45 minutes.

Victory over Fulham on Wednesday will cut the gap at the top down to three points for 24 hours at least before Arsenal visit Brentford.

But Guardiola said talk of a title race is premature until City iron out their inconsistency.

"We have to be better and to be closer to make the first half in Anfield and not the second," Guardiola said at his pre-match press conference.

"What is the reason why in the second half still we are dropping our performance?

"Not (whether the gap is) three, four, five, six points because if we don’t do that, we will not win. Maybe not against Fulham, maybe it'll be against Newcastle or maybe in the next game at Leeds."

City's quest to win silverware in four different competitions was boosted by the return of Ruben Dias as a second half substitute against Liverpool.

But in the absence of centre-backs Dias and Josko Gvardiola through injury, Abdukodir Khusanov has taken his chance for more first-team opportunities.

Guardiola hailed the improvement of the young Uzbek defender, who arrived in Manchester just over a year ago with little English and took time to adapt.

"I admit he doesn't speak like William Shakespeare, but he's getting better and better," added Guardiola.

"He's so, so fast. To recover that position is one of his attributes. But not just that he's intelligent.

"Normally when a player has this physicality he doesn't use what's going on (in his head) and it's always his physical condition, and he has both.

"That's why on the ball he's getting better. That's why he's encouraged to improve and he can improve. At that age and he's open minded and I said recently, 'City have a player in central defence for many, many years'."

B.Carter--ThChM