Pep Guardiola is eyeing Wednesday’s trip to Everton as the ideal time for Manchester City to put their foot down in the title race.
The Blues moved seven points clear of Leicester at the top with a 3-0 victory over Tottenham, with United failing to narrow the gap between first and second to five points as they drew with West Brom on Sunday.
However, City have a game in hand on all of their nearest rivals and play at Goodison Park on Wednesday on an evening when the only other teams in action are Burnley and Fulham.
With the Blues in outstanding form - they have won their last 16 games in all competitions and are unbeaten in 23 - Guardiola is looking forward to finally catching up on their games and continuing a run that is pointing them towards a third Premier League title in four years.
“Every training session is good, the approach to the games is good, the mood is good,” he said. “When you are winning games and winning games it is easier to win the next one.
“The more difficult thing is when you want to win games after you have had two or three defeats. That is difficult, like for example when we travelled to Southampton after our draw against West Bromwich [in December].
“When you win games now we have a huge opportunity to extend our distance against Everton, but we know how tough it is against Everton. No teams play except Carlo's and ourselves. It is a good opportunity to take more distance.
“In February or March nobody is champion. This kind of run of victories will make sense if you are able to win the titles.”
Guardiola spoke in the first half of his post-match press conference about the lack of superstars in his squad.
Because they don’t possess a player in the mould of Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe, Cristiano Ronaldo or Neymar, he said - everyone knows they need to work with their teammates to succeed.
City will certainly be in the market to sign at least one world-class forward this summer - they have the means to move for Messi if he is available and would also be well-placed to test Dortmund’s resolve for striking sensation Erling Haaland - but the manager would not want to make any changes for the rest of the season even if he could.
“I will be honest. I’d like to have a player to score, every single game, four goals and run like these players can run. I would love it,” he said.
“But I will not change any player we have right now, this season. All of them have shown in the bad moments. I’ve said many times I prize my captain, Fernandinho, how he helps on and off and the pitch to stick together, in the bad moments.
“The big teams, the big players show it in the bad moments. In the good moments everyone is easy to play. But we've had bad moments this season.
“We had a moment when we were 12th in the table, we were five points away from Tottenham. They were top of the league when we lost there. Now we are 17 points in front of them. That means how consistent we have been, how we have turned over the situation.
“That means a lot. Maybe it will not be enough to win the titles but what we have enjoyed in the last two months belongs to us.”
