Manuel Akanji feels Manchester City have no margin for error as they bid to overhaul Arsenal in the title race.
Defending champions City trail the current Premier League leaders by five points, having played a game more, just over halfway through their campaign.
With City also still competing in the FA Cup – after knocking out the Gunners last week – and their Champions League challenge soon to resume, there is plenty riding on most games.
Akanji said: “Every game is important but in January and February there are a lot of games.
“The Champions League is coming back now, it’s another big competition and we can’t lose any games, we can’t drop points. We know that and that’s how we go into every game, to get the three points.”
City had an indifferent spell around the turn of the year, prompting manager Pep Guardiola to publicly question his players’ hunger.
City suffered back-to-back defeats to Southampton and Manchester United before they needed to fight back from 2-0 down to beat Tottenham.
The response since has been positive with victories over Wolves in the league and Arsenal in the FA Cup.
Switzerland defender Akanji said: “It might have helped, it might have provoked us a little bit. Probably that’s what he [Guardiola] wanted.
“I think we showed a great reaction in the games that we’ve had. The results weren’t always how we planned them or how we wanted it to be but we won the last three games so I think it’s a good turn that we took. Hopefully we can keep on this winning streak.”
City are next in action when they travel to London to face Spurs for a second time in just over a fortnight on Sunday.
