Pep Guardiola says Manchester City will “recover our best” after he suffered a fourth straight defeat for the first time in his stellar managerial career.

City’s 2-1 defeat at Brighton on Saturday came after losses to Tottenham in the League Cup, Bournemouth in the Premier League and Sporting Lisbon in the Champions League.

Guardiola’s men, chasing an unprecedented fifth straight Premier League title, are now five points behind leaders Liverpool after 11 matches in the English top flight.

“I was a football player and many times I lost a lot of games – four in a row, five in a row, six in a row,” said the City boss.

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“I never expect anything different, the fact we won in the past, that we are special. People can believe that but it’s not true.”

City are struggling badly with injuries, with Ruben Dias, John Stones, Jeremy Doku and Jack Grealish among those absent for the defeat at Bournemouth.

“We are not consistent enough to maintain this level that helped us to win what we want for many years,” said Guardiola. “Hopefully in the future we’ll come back, and if we don’t come back we’ll learn from that.”

City have been champions in six of the past seven seasons but it is not uncommon for them to stumble in the autumn.

Last season they won just one league game in six during a spell in November and December but recovered to retain the title.

After the current international break, City face a testing run-up to Christmas with matches against Tottenham, Liverpool, Nottingham Forest, Crystal Palace, Manchester United and Aston Villa.