Manchester City are looking to close the gap on Premier League leaders Liverpool to two points on Saturday before the Reds host Southampton on Sunday afternoon.

Pep Guardiola has pledged to stay on as Manchester City boss regardless of the outcome of the 115-year-old’s financial spending spree Premier League brought against them. And he explained his duty to stop a run that saw Liverpool go five points clear at the top.

Guardiola has put to bed speculation over his long-term future by extending his contract by two years this week to take him beyond 10 years at the Etihad. But the deal comes on the back of what is the worst run of the Catalan’s coaching career, having lost four games in a row for the first time in all competitions before the international break.

Guardiola says the new deal is proof that he will remain at the Etihad no matter what happens to the club due to the amounts of financial charges brought upon them. City have always maintained their innocence and the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich boss insists he will stay in Manchester even if heavy sanctions come their way.

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“I said that six months ago,” Guardiola said in Friday’s press conference ahead of Saturday’s visit of Tottenham Hotspur. “You have my interviews here and I said the same thing. It’s not because I extended my contract that I’m pretending how nice Pep is.

“We said six months ago or a year ago – when other clubs accuse us of doing something wrong – so what if we get relegated? I will be here.

“Next year we’ll come, I don’t know, if we’re in the Conference (National League) we’ll come and come back to the Premier League. I knew it then and I feel it now.

“You can lose four games in a row, but you can also win four Premier Leagues in a row. The difference is that most teams can lose four games in different competitions, but only one team has won four Premier Leagues in a row.

“I said yesterday (Thursday) that I felt I should stay here, of course because they want me because of the results. We have known each other for a long time, but all my decisions in my life have been like this, I wait and sometimes I feel it was a moment to stay here, what I feel at the moment In just two hours I did.

“Why two years and not one? Because of times. That’s a good question! I don’t want it to be like this next year (press saying), ‘it’s Pep’s last year, he’ll have to extend again’. So that was the main reason because at the end, the contract is there and I would like to stay for two more years, but I also know that if the results are not good I will not be here for another two years.

“So are the players, so we have an incredible time with legendary players here, but we have to perform. If we don’t perform, our chairman, our fans will ask what’s going on and we’ll have to change. So everyone is under pressure and I am the first (I have a contract but I will only be here for a month, maybe, when the situation does not go well).

“I think we deserve to continue what we have done in recent years, to extend the contract. I am not naive enough to stay to stay. We deserve to extend the contract but at the same time we have to try to be up there but if not, then of course the club has to find a solution.”

City have the chance to close the gap on Arne Slot’s league leaders when Spurs visit the Etihad on Saturday, but Guardiola has confirmed he will be without Mateo Kovacic in midfield to replace Ballon d’Or winner Rodri, whose season has ended could yet be over after an ACL injury against Arsenal earlier in the campaign.

Guardiola added: “Kovacic is injured. It will take a while, three weeks or a month. John StonesManu Akanji trained well yesterday. Nathan Ake returns to training. We didn’t have central defenders, now we have three.

“Only Ruben Dias is out, but he will be back soon. I don’t know if they are ready to play 90 minutes, but to see their faces in training is very good.”

“Max Alleyne will also be injured. Let him go to the U21 because they exceeded his limits and he came back injured. He should be more in touch with the national doctors and the doctors here, because if he doesn’t go a player in a perfect condition and he trains with the U21s in the morning and the U20s in the afternoon, then he plays two unsuitable games it is normal for him to be injured and we will lose him again for three weeks to a month.”