Pep Guardiola explains Riyad Mahrez's two-year penalty gap after he fires Man City top

Pep Guardiola hailed fearless Riyad Mahrez after he made it seven successful penalties on the trot to send Manchester City 12 points clear at the top of the Premier League.

The Blues saw off Brentford 2-0 after Mahrez had shown ice-cool to slot in a spot-kick that broke the deadlock.

That came after he had missed a penalty for Algeria last month, as they crashed out of the African Nations Cup in a 3-1 defeat by Ivory Coast.

He shrugged off that disappointment by scoring from 12 yards in successive games against Fulham on Saturday and then again against the stubborn Bees.

Mahrez seems to have ended City's poor record from the spot in the last four years, with Sergio Aguero, Ilkay Gundogan, Kevin De Bruyne, Gabriel Jesus and Raheem Sterling all missing.

Mahrez went over two years without taking one after he had missed one at Anfield in 2018, late in the game with the score goalless.

But since he started up again, Mahrez has not missed and is the undisputed first choice to take them.

Guardiola has never interfered with his players deciding who takes penalties, so he was happy for Mahrez to step aside after that Anfield miss.

He said Aguero was the main man at that point: "I never push the players to take responsibility. They have to feel it.

"Riyad is a guarantee now, he's so clever, he can shoot in both sides and effectively because they are strong to the corners. He is taking them really well so no more decisive in the final third because it is so difficult to be constant in the way they play."

The manager said it was not a case of Mahrez being affected by skying his spot-kick high over the bar on Merseyside.

"In Anfield he hit the penalty in a different way but it was a long time ago," he said.

"He has a special