Chelsea manager Antonio Conte believes that the Blues can catch up with high-flying Manchester City only if they spend huge cash to sign big names during the January transfer window.
Man City clinched a hard-earned victory over Huddersfield on Sunday.
The win over Premier League’s new boys was their 11th consecutive victory in the league this season – keeping them at the top of the table and eight points ahead of arch rivals Manchester United.
Defending Premier League champions Chelsea sit third in the points table just three points behind Jose Mourinho’s Man Utd.
Conte’s Chelsea had succumbed to a 1-0 defeat to Man City in September and the Italian accentuated how Guardiola’s side have improved after spending big during the summer window.
“Manchester City’s path is incredible, no?” Conte said.
“I think Manchester City in this season is a strong team. Also last season, Manchester City was a fantastic team. Then, after the transfer market, they bought their first targets and then they have improved a lot.
“They can do this also in January maybe, in the future. For this reason we must be worried because if we want to compete with Manchester City we have to work and then make the best decisions in the transfer market.”
Guardiola added new players to his Man City side and spent more than £200MILLION during the summer transfer window.
The former Barca boss spent a huge portion of his transfer war-chest to rope in two right-backs and a left-back – Kyle Walker, Danilo and Benjamin Mendy.
Pep smashed the world-record fee for a goalkeeper, spending £34m for Ederson Moraes.
The Spanish boss only added one attacking player this summer. He roped in Bernardo Silva from Monaco for £42.5m.
The Spaniard has splurged £50m on Kyle Walker and £26m for Danilo in the summer to boster his defence.
Man City have made an incredible start to the season and hav won all but one of their Premier league games so far this campaign – scoring 42 goals over the corse of their incredible run of performances.
Guardiola’s side return to action on Wednesday as they host Southampton at the Etihad.