Pep Guardiola reveals why Man City are more dangerous in the title race after 3-0 win over Liverpool - as Arne Slot accepts his tactics failed on dismal day for the champions

Pep Guardiola believes Manchester City's new-found unpredictability makes them more dangerous in the title race after celebrating his 1000th game in management by beating old foes Liverpool.

Erling Haaland, Nico Gonzalez and Jeremy Doku secured City's 3-0 victory, taking them four points behind leaders Arsenal.

Guardiola has claimed all season that the 'vibe' around the squad is significantly improved on last year and now thinks various different playing styles are giving them an edge in matches.

'I have the feeling the energy back,' Guardiola said. 'We are more unpredictable in the way we attack and defend and that is good that the opponents don't know what we are going to do.

'Last season it didn't happen, we didn't handle it well because apparently we didn't have another target to fight. Nobody had done four titles in a row and we did it and we thought, "what's next?"

'I think the four Premier Leagues in a row affected us in a really bad way. It can be understandable a little bit. We tried to push each other but we were not able to do it.

'Since the Club World Cup, I felt something different in general. It's nice to still have the feeling that we are back in terms of many things.'

Guardiola added: 'Thank you to the players and staff for giving me an incredible present against the most important opponent we faced in my time here.'

Meanwhile, Arne Slot said a 'clear and obvious error' had denied his side pulling level in the first half but the Dutchman was reluctant to blame that decision for the defeat.

Virgil van Dijk thought he had equalised but saw his header chalked off due to Andy Robertson being adjudged as offside and interfering with play.

Slot said: 'He didn't interfere at all with what the goalkeeper could do. Immediately after the game someone showed me the goal that the same referee allowed – City against Wolves last season (when Bernardo Silva was on the line for a John Stones header).

'So it took the linesman 13 seconds to raise his flag to say it was offside. So there was clearly communication, but as I said that (goal) could have influenced the game in a positive way for us.

'I would like to emphasise the fact that being 2-0 down at half-time was a fair reflection of how the game went.

'This can happen in football. For me it was a wrong decision that this goal was not allowed, but I will not say because of that we lost the game. After 1-1, if City kept on playing like they did then we would have struggled as well.'

Slot also said his tactics did not work and added: 'It's easy for players to win their duels if the gameplan and tactics are working. What I did against Villa and Madrid, we struggled a lot with (City) bringing so many players into the centre of the pitch.

'Of course, everyone is disappointed. It was a very good start to the week, winning against Villa and Real Madrid, but if you've already faced two strong opponents, and then you have Man City coming at the Etihad, that is always, for every team, difficult, including us.'