Pep Guardiola names the 'important' players pushing Man City towards history

Pep Guardiola praised some of the fringe players in Manchester City's squad for keeping the momentum in their push for glory.

City have scored inside the opening 20 minutes in five of their last six Premier League games to increase their control of matches in the title race, but they have also added their output at the end of matches. Substitutes have come off the bench to score in the last three league games and the general play has helped the Blues to finish as strongly as they have started matches.

Fulham also saw youngsters Rico Lewis and Oscar Bobb as part of the contingent trusted to keep levels up. Lewis made his breakthrough last season and Bobb has made a big impact this year, and Guardiola appreciates the hunger from these players that feeds through the squad as they chase trophies that other teammates have won multiple times.

ALSO READ: 'I have a theory' - Pep Guardiola responds to claims about 'boring' Man City

ALSO READ: Man City have one injury doubt vs Tottenham as Jack Grealish boost confirmed

"It's really important. Look last game at the impact of Jeremy [Doku] with his minutes and Julian [Alvarez] the same with the goal. Rico and Oscar was unbelievable in the last minutes," said Guardiola.

"The game was more comfortable, but they did really good. We need it. We can play in certain ways and after we need specific qualities for the last minutes and we need them.

"The players know that. It's not just the club and manager or the staff, they need to know it themselves - especially some of the new ones to win their first Premier League. Some of the senior guys can win their sixth in seven years or four in a row but it's not going to happen again. We have to do our best to give them the chance to have