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It has been quite a week for Manchester City. After losing to Tottenham on Sunday, the team is now under investigation for breaking Premier League financial rules with over 100 charges during a nine-year span. It's uncertain what kind of punishments will be handed out as this investigation pans out, with calls for points deduction, relegation and other sanctions made if the breaches are proven to be true. 

In his Friday prematch press conference ahead of Sunday's clash against Aston Villa, Pep Guardiola became the first Man City official to publicly address the media on the allegations as touched on the team's innocence, his future and everything in between. Manchester City already stated that they are "surprised" by the allegations and added that they welcome the review of their status by an independent commission and Guardiola further doubled down. 

"My first thought is that we've already been condemned. We are lucky to live in a country where everyone is innocent until proven guilty," Guardiola said. "It seems like we have already been sentenced. What is going to happen, I don't know. We have good lawyers and I know we are going to defend our position."

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This isn't the first time that City has been hit with financial investigations. The club was initially banned by UEFA from playing European competitions for breaching financial fair play regulations before that ban was overturned by the Court Of Arbitration for Sport in 2020. 

"This happened with UEFA, it is the same, the same articles, the same accusations. We will defend ourselves like what happened in the UEFA situation. The court will dictate what happens," Guardiola said. "I am fully convinced that we will be innocent. Since Abu Dhabi took over the club, it has been like that since day one."

The charges, Guardiola said, also don't influence how he sees his future with the club. "I am not moving from this seat, I can assure you. I want to stay more than ever."

Guardiola also aysserted that his team will be focused on the Aston Villa match, and not the swirling controversy. From a competitive perspective City has very little room to slip up in the race for the Premier League title. They already trail Arsenal by five points despite having played one more match, and the two teams will square off for the first time on Wednesday. Keeping the team in a title race is their goal and if a points deduction or worse comes in the future, that's a bridge to cross when they get there.