I will stay even if City relegated: Guardiola

Pep Guardiola said on Friday he would remain at Manchester City even if the club were to face relegation from the Premier League over alleged breaches of financial rules.Guardiola, who has won six Premier League titles in the past seven years with City, signed a two-year contract extension on Thursday, committing him to the English champions till 2027.A hearing into the Premier League’s 115 charges against City has been ongoing for several weeks, with a verdict expected before the end of the season. The club have strongly denied any financial wrongdoing, but could face a severe points penalty if found guilty of some or all the charges."I said that six months ago, one year ago when all the clubs accuse us of doing something wrong. If we get relegated, I will be here,” Guardiola said at his pre-match press conference ahead of Tottenham’s visit today. "If they send us to the Conference (fifth tier) we will come up and up and come back to the Premier League. I knew it then and I feel it now.”Guardiola’s decision to extend his deal is also a boost during a rare period of on-field turmoil. For the first time in the Spaniard’s managerial career, his team have lost four consecutive matches. But the 53-year-old hit back at City’s critics, pointing to their success in becoming the first side to ever win four English top-flight titles in a row."When you are here for nine years, with a long time at one club, you live all the scenarios, all the situations,” added Guardiola. "You’re able to lose four games in a row, but at the same time you’re able to win four Premier Leagues in a row. The difference is that most of the teams are able to lose four games in a row in different competitions but just one team won four Premier Leagues in a row.”City’s poor run began with a League Cup exit to Tottenham before Premier League defeats to Bournemouth and Brighton either side of a 4-1 loss at Sporting Lisbon in the Champions League. All four losses came on the road and Guardiola is hoping for some home comforts when City return to the Etihad Stadium, where they have not been beaten in open play in two years."We have to start to win games, we know it,” he added. "We are coming back at home, hopefully we can perform well and start to take our rhythm.”City’s loss of form had coincided with an injury crisis before the international break. Mateo Kovacic is now set to be ruled out for up to a month due to an issue he picked up while playing for Croatia.But there is more positive news for Guardiola as defenders John Stones, Nathan Ake and Manuel Akanji are back available, while Phil Foden, Jack Grealish and Jeremy Doku have trained this week despite withdrawing from their national team squads.Arsenal’s White out for months after knee surgeryArsenal defender Ben White faces "months” on the sidelines, manager Mikel Arteta said after undergoing knee surgery. The 27-year-old has tried to play through fitness issues this season and Arteta said he had a responsibility to protect the player."Ben White is going to be out for months, unfortunately,” said Arteta at his pre-match press conference ahead of Nottingham Forest’s visit to the Emirates today. "He’s had different kinds of struggles. It’s never been the same thing but we had to make a decision. It hasn’t really improved in the last few weeks. We know that Ben is going to push every boundary but it got to a point that we had to protect the player and we decided to do the surgery.”Injuries have played a major role in the Gunners’ underwhelming start to the season. Arsenal were expected to challenge for a first Premier League title in over 20 years after finishing second to Manchester City in each of the past two seasons.However, they find themselves nine points adrift of leaders Liverpool after 11 games and four behind City. There is some better news for Arteta on the injury front as Bukayo Saka, Declan Rice, Leandro Trossard and Riccardo Calafiori have all recovered from issues to train this week.The visit of fifth-placed Forest will be Arteta’s 250th match in charge. He has been credited with Arsenal’s return to becoming title contenders, but is keen to add to his one major trophy – the 2020 FA Cup.Fixtures (all times GMT)Saturday: Leicester v Chelsea (1230), Arsenal v Nottingham Forest, Aston Villa v Crystal Palace, Bournemouth v Brighton, Everton v Brentford, Fulham v Wolves (all 1500), Manchester City v Tottenham (1730)Sunday: Southampton v Liverpool (1400), Ipswich v Manchester United (1630)Monday: Newcastle v West Ham (2000)