Pep Guardiola issues rallying cry to Man City stars ahead of crunch Premier League run-in

Pep Guardiola saw his Manchester City side return to the top of the Premier League – then demanded a perfect end to the season.

City went a point clear of title rivals Liverpool , with Guardiola insisting his side need to win all six of their remaining six games to retain their title.

Goals from Kevin De Bruyne and Leroy Sane gave champions City a comfortable win over Cardiff , their eighth in a row in the Premier League.

“We know it,” said Guardiola. “We have the feeling that if we drop points we will not be champions.

Kevin De Bruyne was on target for the league leaders (AFP/Getty)

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“We were eight points behind and now we are ahead with six games left. The important thing is we have a chance.

“Everyone was at a high level. We created incredible chances, the players played incredibly and it was a good result.

“We wanted to score more for the goal difference, but the Cardiff keeper made incredible saves.”

The only sour note for City was an injury to Oleksandr Zinchenko, which has left Guardiola without a recognised left-back ahead of Saturday's FA Cup semi-final against Brighton .

Manchester City's De Bruyne scores the opening goal (EMPICS Sport)

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With Fabian Delph also out and £52million defender Benjamin Mendy having not played since January, Guardiola admitted he has a problem at left-back.

“It doesn’t look good,” said Guardiola. “Right now I don’t know, it doesn’t look good for Zinchenko for the next days. Delph is also out.

“We’ll see tomorrow how Mendy trains. We don’t have many options.”

Manchester City's Leroy Sane celebrates scoring his side's second goal of the game (EMPICS Sport)

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Cardiff boss Neil Warnock was philosophical in defeat and revealed De Bruyne had confessed to him his first goal, from a tight angle, was a fluke.

“I said to Kevin 'tell me the truth' and he said he didn’t mean it, he meant to cross it,” said Warnock. “At least he was honest.”

De Bruyne said: “I didn’t mean it really but they all count. I was trying to cut it back and sometimes it goes well and sometime less. But when it’s in it doesn’t matter.”