Pep Guardiola on Man City moving two points behind Arsenal following win over Sunderland | OneFootball

Pep Guardiola says Manchester City must replicate the consistency they showed in the win over Sunderland if they are to catch Arsenal.

City’s 3-0 home win thanks to goals from Ruben Dias, Josko Gvardiol and Phil Foden sees Guardiola’s side move just two points behind league leaders Arsenal, following their defeat to Aston Villa.

But Guardiola says the improvement his side showed against Sunderland must be a baseline for his team moving forward.

“Of course it’s better to be closer than further to the top of the league,” he said on his side closing the gap.

“But from my experience, sorry, I don’t want to feel arrogant but I have experience of winning the Premier League titles, it’s to be consistent.

“The consistency comes just from one thing, from the way you play. Not for the result one day or the victory, going two points behind or four points in front. It’s the consistency of how much you perform, how much you grow during the year.

“Today has maybe been one of the best performances of the year, the season, during 95 minutes. We’ve had good moments but always in the second half (we dip). We are not consistent for 90 minutes.”

Guardiola also reiterated his belief that Arsenal will not drop many more points this season.

“In the Premier League I had the feeling that Arsenal, even though today they dropped points, they are going to drop few, few, few points,” he said.

“If you want to be there, you have to win games, games and games, and games come from the way you perform. Not just from a lucky day or a lucky action.”