'Relegated immediately' - Pep Guardiola makes bold Man City 115 charges claim against Premier League rivals

Pep Guardiola believes 75% of the Premier League's 20 clubs want Manchester City to be relegated for breaching financial rules.

A hearing into City's 115 alleged breaches of the Premier League's financial regulations continues in London. A verdict in the trial is not expected until well into the New Year.

But Guardiola insists most of the club's rivals have already decided about the case and want City to be thrown out of a league they have won for four successive seasons. The Catalan revealed on Friday that he loves the task of defending the club in public, with questions about those charges a regular occurrence at his pre-match press conferences, but he doesn't spend his time away from the media theatre thinking about the various off-pitch issues City are embroiled in, including a row with the Premier League over Associated Party Transactions (APT).

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Instead, Guardiola's mind is focused on ending the worst losing run of his managerial career, with City beaten in their last four outings in all competitions.

"I read something about the situation and how you need to be relegated immediately," he said. "Seventy-five per cent of the clubs want it, because I know what they do behind the scenes and this sort of stuff.

"But I don’t live with it, I live with the four defeats, what I have to do. There are lawyers on both sides. I don’t think about it."

Guardiola might not spend much time thinking about those battles with the Premier League, but he has become a fierce public defender of City.

He is the most high-profile figure at the club to face the media, so regularly gets asked questions relating to off-pitch matters and the charges levied by the Premier League, which both City and Guardiola continue to insist they are innocent of.

The 53-year-old didn't want to be in that position but said he now loves those moments when he has to go into bat for City, explaining why he does so with such gusto.

"I don’t enjoy it, I prefer not to be in that position but once it’s there I love it," he said. "Because when you believe in your club, and the people there. I believe what they say to me and the reasons why. I said, “OK, let’s see”. I cannot say yet because we’re awaiting the sentence in February or March – I don’t know when – but at the same time, I like it."