Pep Guardiola was delighted that Manchester City have reached the "impressive" landmark of 60 Premier League points this season as they took another step in the title race with victory over Brentford.
A penalty from Riyad Mahrez and a close range finish from Kevin De Bruyne secured the points from a routine 2-0 win over the Bees, and Guardiola had high praise for his opponents.
"They are so difficult to attack. Aggressive, high pressing, we build up they drop and defend so deep. Be patient, make no mistakes and in the end we got the result," Guardiola told BT Sport after the match.
"Very satisfied with the performance. We conceded one shot, a few corners and were patient. Difficult when they defend deep with 10 players in their 18-yard box."
When then asked about the title race, he added: " Liverpool have two games to play then we see the gap - 14 games to play, many points to play for and more tough games like today.
"Everyone is tough competition, but it is impressive at this stage to have 60 points - we have done incredibly well so far."
Guardiola again repeated the importance of reaching 60 points after 14 games in his post-match interview with BBC Sport.
"This was an important victory, three more points to reach 60 with 14 games left, next up Norwich," he said.
"Riyad Mahrez was especially good and so solid in the penalty, which we struggled with in previous seasons. It was difficult for the wingers as they did not have space, but we won."
"Joao Cancelo was the best winger we had, he was better than our [traditional] wingers. He was really good, him and John Stones were so important today to create more space for the other guys with their movement."
City forward Raheem Sterling was key to both goals, winning the penalty for Mahrez to score and then seeing his shot spilled by David Raya for De Bruyne to make it two, and he echoed his manager's comments.
"They are a difficult side to break down but we stuck to it and got two goals. We tried to keep creating chances and hopefully take one," Sterling told BT Sport.
"They defended well and had a tight unit. We just had to keep probing and try to find the gaps."
"It's another game, we move on step by step, that's all we can do - keep trying to win and not looking at anyone else."
