Tuesday 14 February 2017 12:12, UK
Pep Guardiola says Manchester City are too far behind Chelsea to catch the Premier League leaders, despite moving up to second by beating Bournemouth on Monday Night Football.
City recorded a 2-0 win at the Vitality Stadium thanks to Raheem Sterling and an own goal from Tyrone Mings to reduce the gap on the Blues, who could only manage a 1-1 draw at Burnley on Sunday, to eight points with 13 games remaining.
However, Guardiola says he does not except Antonio Conte's side to slip up in the race for the title.
"The gap is still so long, so you do not expect them [Chelsea] to lose games and it is so, so difficult to win all the games," he told Sky Sports.
"So the gap is too, too big. Yesterday they did not win, but they played so solid, so it is so difficult to create chances.
"So the important thing is to focus, from the last month and a half we have talked about that - just focus on our game, game by game, and improve our performance.
"And my feeling is that in the last games, our performance is much, much, much better. The only regret today is we created so many chances and it is so important to score goals. But in general I am so, so happy for the performance."
As for the match itself, Guardiola was delighted to see his players overcome a tricky-looking fixture against a team who had previously beaten Liverpool and held Arsenal at home this season.
"The performance was why we got the result, we could have scored more goals, we played a good game in one of the toughest games away," he said.
"I know how tough Bournemouth are, except for 10 minutes in the second half when they pushed a lot, we controlled and our build-up was much better. Every player was more in the position and I am so happy for all the players, because they played a really good performance.
"We know how the gap between all the teams in so close, the second and the sixth. We started the game in fifth position in the Premier League and now we are second. So that means everybody is there, up and down.
"And you know that if you lose a game, you are going to be down and it will be a good battle to qualify for the Champions League."
The only negative as far as City were concerned was the early foot injury suffered by new signing Gabriel Jesus, who limped off after just 15 minutes.
"Tomorrow morning we will know exactly (about Jesus' injury), but in that case we were so, so unfortunate," Guardiola said. "Hopefully we are going to pray tonight that it is not going to be a big issue."
The Brazilian was replaced by Sergio Aguero, who played a key part in the visitors' second goal 21 minutes from time, with Guardiola praising the forward's contribution to the win.
"He played good, really good," he said. "He won, he fought, he scored a goal, which for his confidence, and of course for us, is so important, and I am so happy for him.
"When you play in a big team with a lot of competition, like cup and Champions League, we need all the players."
