Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola said he saw a bright future for the club despite a 0-2 loss against Liverpool at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday. The Reds strengthened their chances of winning the Premier League after a crucial win against the Cityzens.

Meanwhile, Guardiola decided to leave experienced players like Rúben Dias, Mateo Kovacic, Ilkay Gündogan, and Bernardo Silva on the bench and gave chances to the young brigade. The average age of the team which took the pitch was below 25 years.

Guardiola also included three 20-year-olds – Rico Lewis, Savinho, and Abdukodir Khusanov in the starting XI.

“I saw a bright future,” Guardiola told the BBC.

“Other than Kevin [De Bruyne] and Nathan [Ake], they are the future of this club in the next years, with others who will come in future windows.

“It was a good game. Tight game in the first half. First half it was more open and in the second half they defended very deep. They always have the threat but it is not easy to control it. Big compliment to them but I am very pleased with the way we play.”

There is a difference of 20 points in the points table between Liverpool and Manchester City.

Asked what the biggest difference between the two side is right now, Guardiola told ESPN: ‘You can see it in the table, they’ve picked up a lot of points, we’ve lost a lot when we couldn’t have.

“As for today, I have few things to say, we got to the touchline a lot, the winger was brilliant, but we lacked the quality to be able to resolve [the moves].”

Meanwhile, City was without the services of Erling Halaand due to a knee injury and Guardiola is not sure about the striker’s return.

“I don’t know,” he said. “I am not saying we didn’t get the result because Erling was not there. That is unfair on the other players. We could finish more but in general it is fine.”

Manchester City will next take on Tottenham Hotspur on Wednesday.