Pep Guardiola insists Manchester City’s title hopes remain alive despite a 1-1 draw at West Ham that leaves them nine points behind leaders Arsenal.

City had taken the lead through Bernardo Silva in the first half at the London Stadium, but Konstantinos Mavropanos equalised for the Hammers before halftime. With Arsenal scoring twice in stoppage time to beat Everton 2-0, Guardiola’s side were unable to respond.

Despite the deficit, Guardiola remains defiant, highlighting City’s game in hand over Arsenal and the upcoming home clash against the leaders in April.

“It’s not over. Who said that? We didn’t lose. We will continue,” Guardiola said. “Nine points is a lot against Arsenal but it happened. We have the game at home so we have to try until the end. When it is not possible then we congratulate the champion but we have to try.”

City are struggling for form, having drawn their last two league games against West Ham and Nottingham Forest, and suffering a 3-0 defeat to Real Madrid in the Champions League last-16 first leg. They face the Spanish side again next week before meeting Arsenal in the League Cup final and Liverpool in the FA Cup quarter-finals.

“We have an incredible team, spirit. We had an incredible amount of effort in Madrid. The last two games, we played much, much better,” Guardiola said. “We are an incredible team. We play so good. The guys go and go until we can’t continue. But we didn’t score enough goals when we had the quality and they punished us.”

City striker Erling Haaland has struggled in recent weeks, scoring just three goals in his last 12 league games, and Guardiola admits a lack of cutting edge has hurt their campaign.

“We didn’t score enough goals. It happened a thousand millions times for this team in the last decade but this season we struggled,” he explained. “We were without much threat and I don’t like that. You need the spark in the final third with your players. To win the Premier League you need to be more consistent. In the past we had the consistency to win and win and win, to always find a way. This season, not scoring goals for the amount of chances we’ve created, we’ve been punished.”

Despite the challenges, Guardiola remains committed to pushing City until the very end of the season.