Guardiola shocks Manchester City has the smallest squad in the entire Premier League

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has claimed he has the shortest bench in the Premier League. The Spaniard made this surprising statement after his team's victory over Aston Villa. Goals from Rodry, Ilkay Gundogan and Riyad Mahrez from the penalty spot secured the three points for the champions, who were last week charged by the Premier League with more than 100 alleged financial irregularities.

City have spent nearly two billion pounds on players since Abu Dhabi's Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan took ownership of the club in 2008, winning six English titles during that time.

"We only have 18, 19 players. Our depth in the squad is so small, maybe the smallest in the whole Premier League," Guardiola told Sky Sports.

"It is important not to have injuries, but we have an incredible training methodology to deal with fatigue and avoid injuries. We have incredible doctors, physiotherapists. I have been fighting for this for many years," Guardiola added.

City will face an independent panel to answer 115 allegations made by the Premier League dating back to 2009. If found guilty, in the worst-case scenario City could be penalized with points deducted or even dropped from the elite.

Despite the clouds hanging over the club, reigning champions City have the chance to dislodge Arsenal from the top of the league table when the two teams meet in London on Wednesday."Arsenal have a game in hand. We will see the standings after all the games when the Premier League it's over," Guardiola said of the title battle with Mikel Arteta's side.

"But we go to London to try to win. When a team scores 50 points in the first half of the season, it's because they are very good. We closed the gap because the team's performance against Aston Villa was really good," Guardiola added.

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