City have claimed the English top flight crown in three of the past four seasons, with Liverpool the only side to break that hegemony in the 2019/20 campaign.
It’s a similar story this year, with Jurgen Klopp’s men once again our closest rivals at the Premier League summit.
And Guardiola believes the manner in which both sides have pushed the other to hit new heights, whether that be record points totals or sequences of victories, is a natural part of elite competition.
“Liverpool and ourselves, we help the rise of these standards for sure,” the City boss reflected in his pre-match press conference ahead of this weekend’s Premier League trip to Norwich.
“Definitely, when we were able to make 100 points (2017/18) and then after 98 (2018/19) and then they got 99 (2019/20), both teams made the other teams say: ‘this is the level of the competition’.
“One day, to win the Olympic 100 metres it was 11 seconds, then 10 seconds then below 10 seconds, this is the competition.
“Rafael Nadal now has 21 Grand Slams, this is the standard (in tennis).
“If they want to beat them, (Roger) Federer and (Novak) Djokovic have to win two more grand slams. (Nadal) marked the line.”
Hear Pep Guardiola’s thoughts in full via the video above…
