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MANCHESTER -- Pep Guardiola admits Manchester City have improved on last season but is refusing to make any predictions on what they can achieve. His side made an impressive start during his first season at the club but their Premier League challenge began to falter around October and November when they began to drop points. City are in the middle of a club-record 12-game winning streak, but Guardiola insists they will have another difficult period at some point this season. "I cannot deny we are a little bit better, last year we had four points, now we have nine, and in the league last season we had 18 points now we have 25," he told a news conference ahead of Saturday's clash with West Bromwich Albion. "Of course we are a little bit better, but [last year] we were unbeatable and we were playing quite quite good and people were saying very nice comments about us, and after that we saw what happened. So I'm not a big fan of predicting what is going to happen. "We are going to have bad moments. The people maybe don't expect that, or they say good things to make us confused, but we are going to have a bad, bad moment." City could take another significant step with a win as at least one of their main rivals will drop points when second-placed Manchester United facing Tottenham Hotspur, in third, immediately before their game at the Hawthorns. But Guardiola has warned that West Brom, who they beat last month in the League Cup, will not be a pushover. Baggies boss Tony Pulis warned at his own news conference that he will take a "different approach" to trying to stop City, who he described as the in-form team in Europe. "I have huge respect for him," Guardiola said. "He's a friend of mine, so I have a lot of respect for Tony, what he has done. "It's always really complicated to go to West Brom and win. Tomorrow will be a big battle again, as it was against Burnley. As I have said many times, I respect they way they do things. What they do, they do really well. "This is the Premier League, and we are away, against a typical English team, long balls, throw-ins, set-pieces, counter-attacks, the strikers are good, so is the defence, with a lot of experienced guys."
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