Pep Guardiola says has no doubts about the quality of the Premier League despite the struggles of English sides in Europe this week.
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The City boss is expecting a tough game when we travel to West Ham United for a 20:00 (UK) kick-off on Saturday 14 March.
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It comes on the back of a disappointing 3-0 defeat away to Real Madrid in the Bernabeu as all six English sides failed to win in the Champions League.
But Guardiola is wary of the strength of opponents as we challenge for the Premier League title particularly with so many teams having something to fight for.
The Hammers have come into form under Nuno Espirito Santo and will be a huge threat as they battle for their Premier League survival.
“Before the Premier League is the best in the world right?” Guardiola said at his prematch news conference.
“All the teams qualified and [people said] the teams in the Europa League were the best.
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“But then after what happened this week after that [people said] we are not.
“I’m pretty sure it is an incredible league. It’s an incredible Premier League.”
The boss also said it was also important to realise the strength of other leagues around Europe who are more than capable of beating English sides.
His focus is firmly on our encounter in the capital this weekend, but he is hoping a positive result could have the added benefit of bringing some confidence ahead of our second leg clash at the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday.
“The competition is tough and everyone is so well prepared,” he added about the Champions League.
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“My opinion about Real Madrid is not going to change, whether it’s mistakes or that we did very good things.
“The moments in the first 20 minutes was exceptional. One of the best we have played there.
“We came to be a threat and we were threatening but then emotions came, we conceded one and immediately the second and the quality of [Federico] Valverde, with the emotions involved it’s a different game.
“We conceded a penalty that was not, I’m sorry, because Gigio (Donnarumma) touched the ball then we played more passes and Nico [O’Reilly] made the goalkeeper make a incredible save.
“[If we win at] West Ham it will help us to be in a good mood and we will try it and see what happens on Tuesday.”
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