Pep Guardiola should be in the ultimate honeymoon period.

A month or so after penning a new contract to take his reign at the Etihad to a decade, Guardiola is undoubtedly the best manager to take charge of Manchester City and he has completely fallen in love with the club and the city. He has unequivocal backing from his chairman, he began the season chasing history in the form of a fifth Premier League title in succession, and Sunday's trip to Leicester will be his 500th in charge, the second most of any City boss.

But on the eve of that landmark Leicester clash, Guardiola was facing extraordinary questions about his future. How has it come to this?

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Guardiola has always said that he would only leave if he had no more to give or if his bosses decided he was no longer suitable. His regular chats with chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak have given him the confidence to continue, and on Saturday he said: "I will keep going. I will not give up. I want to be here, I want to do it and with the situation we have now I HAVE to do it.

"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.

"The biggest test is to come back again – that has already happened, we have done that before. 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."

It shouldn't need saying - that Guardiola is committed to the fight. He has vowed to remain in charge regardless of any potential punishments handed down by the Premier League and the ink on that new contract is barely dry.

On signing that contract he spoke of a rebuild, wanting to leave City in a stronger position than they currently are. That probably means phasing out some genuine club legends and breathing new life into a squad that has been exposed by injuries and fitness this season.

But if he wants to ensure that he can do that over the next 18 months, he needs to turn things around on the pitch quickly. Leicester have been a banana skin for him in the past, but they are struggling and should be the perfect opponent to kick-start the season.

West Ham, Salford, Brentford and Ipswich in the four games after that are presentable, too. Guardiola must ensure there are no more unenforced errors and fix things on the pitch before thinking about wider rebuilds.

His 500th game as City boss is arguably his most important.