The Japan Times - Consistency the key to Man City title charge – Guardiola

City cut the gap on the Gunners at the top of the table to two points as goals from Ruben Dias, Josko Gvardiol and Phil Foden inflicted just Sunderland’s fourth defeat in 15 games back in the English top-flight.

The routine nature of victory was in stark contrast to City’s last two games.

Guardiola’s men needed Foden’s stoppage time winner to beat Leeds 3-2 last weekend after blowing a 2-0 lead and nearly let a 5-1 advantage slip at Fulham on Tuesday before prevailing 5-4.

Arsenal's 2-1 defeat at Aston Villa earlier on Saturday opened the door for City to close in on their title rivals and Guardiola was heartened by the fact his side reversed a trend this season of dropping off in the second half.

"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," said Guardiola.

"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 (in the first game of the season). 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."

Arsenal have finished second for the past three seasons, losing out to City in the 2022/23 and 2023/24 campaigns.

Mikel Arteta's men also still have to visit the Etihad in April and Guardiola said all his side can do is apply pressure to Arsenal, who are aiming to end a 22-year wait to win the title.

"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," added Guardiola.

"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.

"Against Fulham it was three points but if we continue to do what we did in the second half, we have no chance. We will lose everywhere."

T.Ueda--JT