Pep Guardiola says Manchester City proved against Newcastle United that their title charge will not be derailed by complacency as they bounced back to winning ways following defeat against Liverpool.
The runaway Premier League leaders responded to their first domestic loss of the season at Anfield on January 14 by overpowering the Magpies 3-1 with a Sergio Aguero hat-trick on Saturday.
Guardiola had said beforehand it was important that his players responded well and he feels the performance at the Etihad Stadium, which maintained a 12-point lead at the top, showed their character.
“I said many times it was going to happen, we can lose, so (it is) important the reaction we have to do,” said the manager.
“Still we have 42 points to play (for). It is 14 games. It is a lot of games to play and difficult games like Saturday and like Liverpool. It is important to show the team is still there but I don’t have the feeling we give up.
“We want to go through to the final in the (League) Cup and the FA Cup, so (we have) a lot of games but I think the people have the desire to keep going, to keep going, to keep going.
“Even with 12 points it is important to see the personality, the team and try to do the things with no mistakes. Never did I not see it this season and that is why I am so proud to be their manager.”
City have earned plenty of plaudits as they have dominated the Premier League this season.
But Guardiola, whose side are also still challenging in three other competitions, does not want to reflect on that yet and wants his players to focus only the games ahead.
He said: “I said to them until fixture 24 we were the best team but that doesn’t count. It counts after fixture 38. “Still we have 14 and to win 10 or 11 games will be tough. Every team will play for something, to stay (up), for Europa League, Champions League and will be focused.
“I said, ‘don’t look back, look at what we have to achieve,’ because if you try to (look at) what happened behind, that is not a good solution from my experience.”

Smalling hails United’s defensive strength
United defender Chris Smalling has hailed Mourinho for building a strong defence at the club after they recorded their 14th clean sheet of the Premier League season at Burnley.
United are yet to concede a goal in 2018 and have gone 504 minutes since their defence was last breached, when Burnley midfielder Steven Defour’s free-kick beat David de Gea on Boxing Day. Along with Chelsea, United have the stingiest defence in the division – each have conceded just 16 goals – and Smalling credited Mourinho’s work in forming that solid base following the 1-0 win over the Clarets on Saturday.
“I think we’re well drilled,” he said. “Even last year I don’t think we conceded many goals. It’s good that as a team we can shut up shop and not give the other team too many chances, knowing that more often than not we’re going to go up the other end and score because certain teams can only keep us out for so long.”
Smalling has started the past two games at the heart of the defence with Phil Jones in a centre-back partnership which has not always been available to United’s managers due to injuries to both men.
Mourinho’s side, in second place, temporarily reduced City’s lead at the top to nine points before Pep Guardiola’s men re-established a 12-point cushion by beating Newcastle United.
Smalling is retaining hope City can still be caught and knows United have to amp up the pressure if they are playing before their rivals as they did on Saturday.
“We’ve all been there where leads have dwindled and teams have been caught but we can only focus on ourselves,” he added.
“There is still a big points gap and we just need to make sure we win our games because if we don’t then there’s no point even talking about it.”