Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola believes it's too early to talk about the Premier League title race after Liverpool took a five point lead at the top of the standings.
City 's shock defeat to Norwich meant Jurgen Klopp's men extended their advantage in the table following a 3-1 win against Newcastle earlier in the day.
The defensive performance against the Canaries will be concerning for City, but Guardiola refused to talk about the title race, given only five games had been played in the season.
Guardiola doesn't believe the defeat at Carrow Road will be significant a blow to his side's title hopes, sarcastically questioning whether the trophy should be handed to Liverpool now if it was.
"Five points (behind Liverpool) is five points – but we are in September,” he said. "What could we do?
"Say ‘it’s September and congratulations to Liverpool, you are champions?'"
"We recover and go to Ukraine and try and then come back. We drop five points."
Despite losing ground to their rivals, the City boss didn't criticise his players and vowed to keep fighting until the final day of the season.
Guardiola added: "It’s a joy as a trainer to be with these guys and I don’t know what’s going to happen this season but I for not even one second will I doubt what the players have done, for me, for the club, for everybody.
"I tell the truth and I just spoke to them in the locker room and know how they suffer. We are going to keep going every time until the end."
