Guardiola: Manchester City must believe they can beat any team

Pep Guardiola says Manchester City’s players and fans must believe they can beat any team after they thrashed West Ham 5-0 on Friday.

City have struggled for consistency since the arrival of Guardiola, but they were in fine form at London Stadium as they booked their ticket for the fourth round of the FA Cup.

Guardiola has now overseen five wins in six games, but a 1-0 defeat at Liverpool in that time damaged title ambitions at the Etihad Stadium.

And with the knockout rounds of the Champions League also looming, Guardiola wants a better big-game mentality from his players and fans.

“We were able to keep the ball better than the last games and we created more chances. Before the penalty, we had three or four chances and with the second and third goals it was easier for the second half,” Guardiola told BBC Sport.

“It is important to win away, it is not easy. Hopefully it can help us to make our players believe that they are good enough to play every game.

“I would like to involve our fans and they can believe that we are good.

“I do not know what happened in the past but we are good guys, so all the season we run a lot, fight a lot, playing good, sometimes not playing good.

“But they have to believe they can compete everywhere against every team.”