Guardiola praises Hull's Silva as City try to seal top-four berth

(Reuters) - Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has declared his admiration for Hull City counterpart Marco Silva before the sides clash in the Premier League on Saturday.

City's 2-1 defeat at Chelsea in midweek left them in fourth place, 14 points behind the league leaders with eight games to play, while Hull climbed out of the relegation zone with a 4-2 win over Middlesbrough.

"I know this manager when he was in Greece (with Olympiakos) and playing Champions League football and I was in Bayern Munich," Guardiola told a news conference on Friday.

"He is doing an outstanding job because it was absolutely at the bottom and he makes some great results.

"I like the way they play. I liked the way they played when we were there and now they have players with a lot of talent in the way they want to play. It's offensive, not just long balls.

"They play with a lot of quality."

Guardiola added that City will put all their energy into securing a place in next season's Champions League by finishing in the top four.

"The situation is clear -- eight games left and we need to qualify for the top four and that is our target for the end of the season," he said.

"I was expecting from the beginning of the season to fight for the Premier League until the end... we are a little bit disappointed, but I am quite happy with the way we made good things in this season."

City have not lost to Hull at home since 1930 when they were beaten 2-1 in an FA Cup tie.

(Reporting by Aditi Prakash in Bengaluru)