Pep Guardiola insists there is no chance of him walking away from Manchester City.

The beleaguered Premier League champions travel to relegation-threatened Leicester City on Sunday, for what will be Guardiola’s 500th game in charge. He is in desperate need of points in their battle for Champions League qualification after an extraordinary capitulation over the past two months.

City have taken just five points from their past nine league games – which leaves them joint-last in the form table with Leicester and bottom club Southampton – and are six points adrift of the top four.

Guardiola may have only three fit senior defenders available to face Leicester. Nathan Ake – substituted in Thursday’s 1-1 draw against Everton with an injury – is a doubt and Kyle Walker has been battling a virus. Ruben Dias, John Stones and goalkeeper Ederson have all been sidelined.

The City manager has so far been unable to find any answers to the crisis but says he will “not give up” in his fight to get the club back on track.

Asked if the situation requires him to be more innovative, Guardiola said: “Yes, I will try. I will keep going. Sometimes you think it will be earlier or easier to fix it, and others it takes more time. I will not give up. I want to be here, I want to do it and with the situation we have I have to do it.

“Now we go to Leicester, a place it has always been difficult to get good results, and with the players we have available that is what I will try.”

Guardiola says City face a huge test to prove they can bounce back from a crisis unprecedented in his trophy-laden, 8½-year reign at the club.

“The biggest test is to come back again – that has already happened, we have done that before,” he said. “That makes you remember how good the past was, that’s the truth. This makes you realise how good it is what we have done in the past.

“Sometimes you have injuries. For how many years we were incredibly consistent but now, yes, expect a little bit down and the main reason is having so many important players injured. I saw the team spirit [against Everton], how we trained, how focused they are, how they try to practise. We saw that but unfortunately couldn’t get the result.

“Of course I want it, everyone wants it. I don’t want to disappoint my people in terms of the club, the fans, the people who love this place.”

Erling Haaland’s penalty miss against Everton proved costly but Guardiola said he had felt no need to discuss it with the Norway striker, who has one goal in his past seven league games.

“No, I congratulated the team. I said ‘well played’,” Guardiola said. “The only chance is to continue. I don’t have it in my education to start complaining, to point at people. It’s happened, it’s life, it’s football so let’s try it again.

“That’s why all the time we have had success, because always it is never enough. We will try it again and again and again. That’s why we won a lot of titles. Every three days it was a game and win, win, win for many, many years. Now we have to do the same and the results are not good.”