Pep Guardiola expects Chelsea and Liverpool to continue the Premier League title race despite the pair falling further behind Manchester City.
The defending champions moved eight points clear at the top of the table as they won 1-0 at Brentford while Chelsea suffered a late equaliser to draw 1-1 with Brighton; Liverpool are a further point back after losing at Leicester on Wednesday night, although they have a game in hand.
City's streak away from their rivals during a flawless December featuring seven consecutive league wins has seen one bookmaker pay out early on their title win amid expectation that the Blues will emerge victorious again, but that mentality is not shared by the City manager.
Guardiola pointed to the scare they had against Leicester on Boxing Day to illustrate how many challenges lay ahead, and believes that Liverpool and Chelsea will keep fighting for the title.
"There are 54 points to play. Fifty-four," he said.
"We were 4-0 up [against Leicester] and in 20 minutes we were 4-3 three days ago. All of you, thank you for your nice words because we win but I'm not going to believe any of the words you're going to say if you think it is already done.
"Chelsea and Liverpool are more than exceptional, - one is the European champions and Liverpool have been our big rival for years. The difference is not because they dropped points but because we won 10 games in a row."
