Pep Guardiola said that Manchester City turned up when it mattered against Manchester United as they fight Liverpool for the Premier League title.
City went into this game with a strangely poor record in home derbies under Guardiola, having only won this fixture twice in five years under a manager who has steered them miles clear of their rivals in the table every year. A 4-1 win on Sunday went some way to improving that record and stretches the gap to 22 points which makes it even more inevitable that the Blues will finish above the Reds for a ninth straight year.
Guardiola said ahead of this gam e that as much as the supporters crave derby wins it is more useful for him as a step towards winning the league, and the three points took them six clear of Liverpool - albeit having played a game more. City's manager said after the game that previous defeats to United have been when they have already effectively been champions [the exception being 2019/20, when they failed to win the league], whereas now they know how good they need to be to keep Jurgen Klopp's team at bay.
READ MORE: Pep Guardiola picks out Man City turning point against Manchester United
"The truth is that in the last years when we lost against them we were already champions. Today we play for if we don't win, we have to win all the games to be champion," he said.
"I have the feeling many tight games are going to happen. We are six points [ahead of Liverpool] but it is fake because we have played one more game. If we are stable mentally and hopefully recover Nathan Ake as soon as possible and the other guys come back, game by game we will see what happens. My dream is that we will be there until the end."
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