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Pep Guardiola has backed the job Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is doing at Manchester United .

And the Manchester City boss reckons Old Trafford’s owners are right to stick with the Norwegian – and give him the time to return United back to football’s top table.

Some United fans have urged the club’s board to ditch Solskjaer and turn to bosses like former Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino and ex-Juventus chief Max Allegri who are both available as the Reds go through a period of transition.

But as Guardiola takes his City stars to Old Trafford for the fourth meeting of the season between the Manchester rivals, the Spaniard is convinced United’s decision to support Solskjaer is correct – and will deliver results.

“I am not there, I am not part of United but what I feel is that people at the club believe in Ole and I think he is doing a really good job,” said Guardiola.

(Image: PA)

“Always I believe that managers and clubs need time to implant, to build something that the manager and club both believe in.

“Unfortunately sometimes the results mean clubs take the decision to break that process.

“It is not always about the tactics sometimes, it is about the feel, how the players follow the manager.

“I appreciate the quality of their manager a lot, I think he represents United in an exceptional way.

“And I think in the good moments, Ole arrives with an incredible impact in terms of results and afterwards, maybe they drop a little bit.

“But on both sides of the club they are stable. From what I read the comments are stable from the board and I think Ole’s behaviour here in the press conferences was always quite similar and now the results are getting back.

(Image: Action Images via Reuters)

“United are scoring a lot of goals, they create chances, they concede few, and especially they have good keepers, good defenders, a bigger squad.

“So with United there is no doubt about it, all the time, every season, they have good teams.”

That amounts to a ringing endorsement for Solskjaer from the City boss.

But Guardiola admits he’s been surprised at United’s decline since he arrived to the Premier League at the start of the 2016-17 season.

Two months before he took charge, City and United finished the season on 66 points separated only by goal difference.

In the four years since then, United have fallen way behind their cross-town rivals by a total of 75 points.

And Guardiola added: “I never expected this position after the previous seasons we finished when I arrived here in England.

“And right now to have this distance against United in these last three or four years I didn’t expect it.

“Because when you analyse United individually and collectively they are so good. So that is why I don’t see it.

“I didn’t expect when I landed here to have this gap right now with United, even in the past.

“But what United expects now is getting closer to the people above them and they are working to improve that.

“Manchester City wants to improve too so at the end of the season the distance is what it is. And if we are 22 points behind Liverpool , it is because they were much better than us.”