Man City boss Pep Guardiola has title message for Liverpool FC after Brentford win

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has laid down the gauntlet to Liverpool after watching his side move onto 60 points with a 2-0 win over Brentford at the Etihad Stadium last night.

Goals either side of half-time from Riyad Mahrez and Kevin De Bruyne were enough for City to secure a routine three points and a seventh successive Premier League home victory.

The win saw Guardiola's side open up a 12-point gap on Liverpool at the top of the table, ahead of the Reds facing Leicester City at Anfield this evening.

The visit of Brendan Rodgers' side is the first of two games in hand that Liverpool have on City, meaning they could reduce the gap to less than ten points with a three-point haul this evening.

Although Guardiola believes his side have done "incredibly well" to reach 60 points after 24 games, he is refusing to get carried away, pointing to the games in hand that Liverpool have on his team.

"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," Guardiola said.

"Everyone is tough competition, but it is impressive at this stage to have 60 points - we have done incredibly well so far."

Addressing his side's performance against the Bees, Guardiola added: "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.

"[I am] very satisfied with the performance. We conceded just one shot, a few corners, didn't concede stupid free-kicks where they are so good and we were patient. It is difficult when they defend deep with ten players in their 18-yard box."

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