Pep Guardiola may have thought that the bread and butter commitments in England were on a par with other leagues on the continent.

Lately, however, the Spaniard has discovered that managing a team in the Premier League was much tougher than that after taking over at Manchester City from Bayern Munich in the summer.

Last week’s 1-1 draw at home to Southampton means City are now winless in their last three league outings.

In midweek, they were also eliminated from the League Cup by rivals Manchester United.

This afternoon, City travel to the Midlands to play guests to 13th-placed West Brom.

Guardiola keeps stressing that there’s no crisis at City but the side’s strong start to the season has now been followed by the Catalan’s joint longest run without victory as a manager.

Southampton emulated Everton by holding City 1-1 at the Etihad Stadium.

Like Celtic, Tottenham and Barcelona before them, the Saints benefited from individual errors that amount to a wider malaise.

City are sharing top spot with Arsenal and Liverpool on 20 points.

The Gunners were on a brilliant run of six wins on the trot in the league before letting their grip go to promoted Middlesbrough at the Emirates Stadium last week.

In today’s early kick-off, Arsenal will be in the north east to play struggling Sunderland at the Stadium of Light.

Despite the draw at home against Boro, Arsene Wenger said there were positives to take from the result.  The Frenchman reckons that Arsenal sides of the past may have succumbed to the pressure, telling the club’s official website: “We’ve lost games like that before.”

Liverpool, who scored 20 goals in nine league games, will be in London this evening to play Crystal Palace.

The arrival of Juergen Klopp to Merseyside over a year ago lifted the fans’ chins off the floor and pumped up excitement levels.

Klopp’s appointment was also seen as the beginning of the end for the likes of Adam Lallana.

However, the England midfielder is among the first names on the teamsheet these days and last Saturday, as Liverpool beat West Bromwich Albion at home, the 28-year-old made his 100th appearance for the club.

The Reds produced a display of complete authority at Anfield and eased into a two-goal lead in the opening 35 minutes courtesy of Sadio Mane and Philippe Coutinho.

The final scoreline – 2-1 in the hosts’ favour – did not reflect the pattern of the game which was dominated by Klopp’s team from start to finish.

Chelsea beat Manchester United 4-0 in emphatic style last week but were ousted from the League Cup by West Ham on Wednesday.

Tomorrow, the Blues will square up to Southampton away as  United take on Burnley, keen to return to winning form in the Premier League.

The Red Devils will have to do without defender Eric Bailly for the next two months after he suffered a serious knee injury.

The Ivorian has been exceptional for United so far this term, outshining his side’s more expensive signings with a string of sound showings.

At White Lane, fifth-placed Tottenham entertain champions Leicester City who beat Crystal Palace 3-1 in their last league outing.

In their previous match, the Foxes were abject in a 3-0 defeat to Chelsea but seven days later, Claudio Ranieri’s men had not only joined Barcelona and Atletico Madrid as the only teams with a 100 per cent record in the Champions League, but also dispatched a Palace side full of exciting attacking artillery.

Fixtures in the UK...

Premier League
Crystal Palace-Liverpool - 18.30
Man. United-Burnley
M’boro-Bournemouth
Sunderland-Arsenal - 13.30
Tottenham-Leicester
Watford-Hull City
West Brom-Man. City

Tomorrow
Everton-West Ham - 14.30
Southampton-Chelsea - 17.00

Monday
Stoke City-Swansea City - 21.00

Standings: Manchester City, Arsenal, Liverpool 20; Chelsea, Tottenham 19; Everton 15; Man United 14; Southampton 13; Watford, Bournemouth 12; C. Palace, Leicester 11; West Brom, Burnley, West Ham 10; Stoke City 9; M’boro, Hull City 7; Swansea 5; Sunderland 2.

The Championship
Barnsley-Bristol City
Blackburn-Wolves - 18.30
Brighton-Norwich
Cardiff-Wigan
Derby-Sheffield Wed.
Fulham-Huddersfield
Ipswich-Rotherham
Leeds-Burton Albion
Preston-Newcastle
Reading-Nottm Forest

Tomorrow
Birmingham-Aston Villa - 13.00

League One
AFC Wimbledon-Bradford
Bolton-Port Vale
Bristol Rovers-Peterborough
Charlton-Chesterfield
Fleetwood-Gillingham
Northampton-Bury
Oxford-Millwall - 14.00
Rochdale-Oldham
Scunthorpe-Swindon
Sheffield Utd-MK Dons
Southend-Shrewsbury
Walsall-Coventry City

League Two
Accrington-Newport
Barnet-Hartlepool
Cambridge-Portsmouth
Carlisle-Crawley
Cheltenham-Blackpool
Doncaster-Wycombe
Leyton Orient-Crewe
Mansfield-Stevenage
Morecambe-Exeter
Notts County-Luton
Plymouth-Colchester
Yeovil-Grimsby Town

Scottish Premiership
Aberdeen-Celtic  - 13.00
Hamilton-Dundee FC
Inverness CT-Hearts
Motherwell-Ross County
Rangers-Kilmarnock
St Johnstone-Partick

Scottish Championship
Dumbarton-Dunfermline
Dundee United-Falkirk
Hibernian-St Mirren
Morton-Ayr United
Raith-Queen of South - 18.15

League One
Alloa-Albion Rovers
Brechin-Livingston
East Fife-Airdrieonians
Peterhead-Stranraer
Queen’s Park-Stenhousemuir

League Two
Annan Athletic-Montrose
Berwick-Arbroath
Clyde-Stirling Albion
Elgin-Cowdenbeath
Forfar-Edinburgh City

Note: All games kick off at 16.00, unless stated.