Manchester City eased their way to capture the much needed three points after beating Fulham 2 – 0 at home to revive hopes of winning the Premier League title this season.
Raheem sterling had opened scoring for the host before going on to win a penalty that allowed Kevin De Bruyne to double City’s lead barely 26 minutes of play.
The goals scored could have been more than that for Guardiola’s side having dominated the entire duration of the encounter; firing 16 shots on goal.
However, Pep Guardiola rued his side’s missed chances against the cottagers, but insisted that there is still room for improvement as the jump back into the title race.
“We struggled at the beginning of the season for many reasons. Now four games, four clean sheets. It’s so important for us to maintain this solidity,” Guardiola told BBC Sport.
“The finishing was wasteful. We know we have to improve this, but it’s important to keep creating the chances. In the last 20 minutes we lost too many simple balls, which is a problem. We have to do the simple things better. That is the next step.
“Sterling scored a goal and won a penalty. It’s important for the players up front to be scoring goals.
“This season looks like there will be a lot of teams in contention. Everyone can beat everyone. In this month it was important to get qualification for the Champions League, now we focus on the Premier League. It will be a long season.”
The Cityzens were a shadow of themselves at the beginning of the season with attacking and defensive issues dealing a huge blow to their title chase. But, they seem to be back in contention considering their current form.
Guardiola, who is pleased to see progress, telling BT Sport: “It’s important to get a good run of points. For the chances we had, yes [we should have scored more], but it was the same in Porto.
“It’s important that we won and that defenders don’t make mistakes and we don’t gift goals.
“It’s important to win games and clean sheets are a good fact, especially with the amount of chances we created again.
“The Fulham physicality was impressive. Scott Parker always has something tricky, you know, he did well against Leicester. Now everyone can beat everyone. That’s why it’s important for the victory and no injuries to go into the Champions League with fresh players.
“We have to wait until the end of the weekend but what’s important is the feeling in the team. We will improve.”