London, Tuesday

Pep Guardiola has committed to Manchester City for the long term but for the first time in his managerial career, results may determine the Catalan’s future rather than his desire for a new challenge or break.

City’s board showed how fully they remain committed to the Guardiola project by extending his contract to 2023 last week.

There is good reason for the club’s faith. Guardiola is responsible for two of the three highest point tallies in Premier League history among six major trophies in his first four seasons in charge.

But a 2-0 defeat by Tottenham on Saturday that left City already eight points off the top of the table continued the malaise that has set in since the beginning of last season.

Albeit with a game in hand, Guardiola’s men are languishing in 13th in the Premier League table.

A return of 12 points from their opening eight games of the campaign is the lowest since 2008/2009, just months after an Abu Dhabi takeover starting pouring millions into the club.

City even have a negative goal difference after scoring just 10 times in the league, their lowest at this stage of the season since 2006/07 when they finished 14th under Stuart Pearce and failed to score a single goal at home after New Year’s Day.

“The reality is we are struggling to score goals this season,” admitted Guardiola. “10 goals in eight games is not good enough.”

The Champions League has normally been the nadir of Guardiola’s time in Manchester.

In four seasons he has not even been able to match City’s best run in the competition to the semi-finals under Manuel Pellegrini in 2015/16.