Pep Guardiola will already have made his mind up on Manchester City's Premier League campaign, according to former Blue Shaun Goater.
The reigning champions will be one of the first teams back in action this month when they take on Arsenal on June 17 as one of ten games left to play, but any hopes of winning a third consecutive league title are long gone given the relentless pace Liverpool have maintained.
Guardiola's side have already retained the League Cup they have won for the last three years and are well-placed in the FA Cup and Champions League to further improve their season. However, whatever happens in the rest of the Premier League campaign Goater thinks it will go down with a coach as driven as Guardiola is as a disappointing one.
"Pep Guardiola is a serial winner and it seems very odd that we're talking about solidifying second place, and what a win could do in terms of creating that gap and solidifying that," he told Sky Sports.
"This seems very odd to be so far behind but that just shows the amazing season Liverpool have had. [Guardiola] will without doubt want to finish second. He will look at this as a bad season and think 'Yeah we've got some way to go, we've had some inconsistencies but we want to improve on that', but no doubt he wants to finish second."
Guardiola has previously defended the title defence of his side by comparing them to the effort of previous champions, although he has also said that winning three cups including a first Champions League would not top last season's efforts because the Premier League is 'the most beautiful and the most difficult' to win.
