Sunderland win was one of best of the season – Pep | OneFootball

Pep Guardiola says the 90 minutes against Sunderland was one of the best performances of the season.

Match Report

Special Dias strike kickstarts comprehensive victory over Sunderland

Goals from Ruben Dias, Josko Gvardiol and Phil Foden saw us secure a 3-0 victory over Sunderland to move within two points of the top of the table.

It was our third Premier League victory in a week and the boss was delighted with how we maintained control against a side that have taken points off every team in the current top-six.

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But after back-to-back nerve-jangling wins – when we let slip comfortable leads in the 3-2 victory over Leeds and 5-4 thriller at Fulham, Guardiola was delighted with the reaction.

And with Arsenal losing earlier in the day at Aston Villa, the top of the Premier League has got even tighter.

“Of course it’s better to be closer than further to the top of the league,” he said on the title race.

“In my experience, to win the Premier League, it’s about the consistency. The consistency comes from the way you play and how much you grow whether you are 2-1 behind or 4-1 in front.

“Today maybe has been one of the best performances of the season for 95 minutes. We had good momentum for the second half.

“It started from Wolves, the first half was really good, the second half we suffered. We did good things against Fulham in the first half and stopped in the second half. We talked about that and the reasons why.

“It’s not about specific movements defensively or offensively. Today, we played for 90 minutes against a team who have done well so far against top teams.

“We concede one chance today but apart from that it was a good performance.

“In the Premier League, we had the feeling that Arsenal are going to drop few points and if you want to be there you have to win games and that comes from the way you perform - not just a lucky day or lucky action.”

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Guardiola said that he had spoken with the squad ahead of the Sunderland win following the victory at Craven Cottage.

City led 5-1 against Fulham before the Cottagers stormed back to almost take a point and the boss said it cannot happen if we are to challenge for silverware this season.

“Always they have had [that mentality] except last season for obvious reasons and everybody knows why,” he added.

“What happened in the first five or 10 games, if it’s not going well, it’s not a problem.

“We saw against Fulham in the second half it was tough and the reasons why. We said guys ‘if we improve that, we will be a better team’. If they don’t follow us, that’s when we are in trouble.

“I want to see the team grow. In knockout stages of the Champions League or the FA Cup, if you play one bad game it’s over.

“But in the Premier League, it’s long and the performance dictates if you will be there or not.

“5-4 against Fulham was three points but if we continue to do what we did in the second half, we have no chance. We will lose everywhere.

“In the league, you can have five, six games in a row that you don’t win. It happened to us last season and it has happened to many other teams this season. That’s why the way you play is the key for the future.”