Pep Guardiola has no doubt Manchester City are in a battle to defend their Premier League crown.

The champions, who played out a draw with title rivals Arsenal last month, have had to dig deep to beat struggling Wolves and Southampton in their past two outings.

They required an injury-time John Stones goal to win at Molineux and Saturday’s 1-0 triumph over Saints, courtesy of an early Erling Haaland strike, was a laboured affair.

Guardiola does not expect things to get any easier, particularly with many opponents adopting defensive tactics to neuter City’s threat, but he insists he is ready for the challenge.

The Catalan said: “It’s difficult. Look at Wolves, how good they can play and look now at Southampton.

“They are at the bottom of the league and, my god, if these teams are at the bottom of the league, what do you do with the other ones? This is my feeling.

“But I’m not surprised when you play Champions League, Premier League, Champions League, Premier League and everything and Southampton had all week to prepare for the game.

“In these type of games, if you don’t score the second or the third it is tough, it is difficult, but accept the challenge.”

Defender Manuel Akanji believes the results show City are coping well with sides who set out to frustrate them.

The Switzerland international said: “The fact we’re scoring at least one goal every match against 11 players in their own box maybe looks easy from the outside but it’s tough to play against.

“We’re doing a good job, we keep on attacking, putting crosses in, putting pressure on and at one point we’re going to break them.”

Guardiola is now expected to make a number of changes for Wednesday’s Carabao Cup tie at Tottenham and says he will not risk anyone not fully fit.

That would appear to rule out the chances of Kevin De Bruyne, Kyle Walker, Jack Grealish or Jeremy Doku returning.

He said: “We are few, few people. I don’t know if I’m going to think against Spurs maybe some players from the academy. We will see.

“If the players are fine they are going to play against Spurs but if they have doubts I’m not going to take a risk, that’s for sure.”