City have the chance to close the gap on Premier League leaders Arsenal to two points when they entertain the Eagles on Wednesday (13.05.26) and the coach is expecting a difficult task against Palace - who could be distracted by the Conference League final later this month.

Guardiola told reporters: "They are so professional. Crystal Palace will play top against us."

He added: "We saw Leeds against Spurs (earlier this week), how they are now out of the relegation battle, but how they compete. We’ve played here against Aston Villa and West Ham in the past when they had nothing to play for and saw how difficult it was.

"So I‘m pretty sure they will do their best even though they have a final a few days later. They have always been tough games. The quality is there."

Meanwhile, Guardiola revealed that he has "never trusted" VAR as the debate surrounding the technology continues to rage following the contentious decision to disallow a West Ham goal against Arsenal at the weekend.

He said: "Only we can do what we have to do and do it better. That is only in our control.

"We lost the two FA Cup finals because the referees didn't do their job that they should do. Even the VAR. When this happened, it's because we have to do better. Not the referees. I have never trusted anything [with VAR] since I arrived a long time ago.

"You have to do it better. Do it better. If you want to be in that position, do better because you have to blame yourselves.

"That [VAR] is a flip of a coin. You have to do it better yourself. That is Crystal Palace, focus, focus and focus. Of course, it's not in our hands in this Premier League. I always said to the players when I arrived here and in Barcelona and Bayern Munich: 'Guys do it better'.

"The other one is a job for the statements and institutions which rule the competition."