Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has stressed the importance of winning their matches regardless of the scoreline.

The Cityzens beat Burnley 1-0, and Erling Haaland’s fifth-minute goal proved enough to secure victory at Turf Moor, but it was the only one of their 29 shots to find the back of the net.

Manchester City has risen to the summit of the league standings with 70 points, level with Arsenal but superior in goals scored. This shift in positions in the Premier League has ended Arsenal’s 200-day stint at the top.

Burnley have since been relegated to the Championship after the defeat.

In a post-match interview, Guardiola expressed delight with the victory over Burnley while admitting the physical and mental effort put into Sunday’s win against Arsenal showed at times.

Guardiola also noted that the result is the most important thing as City moved above Arsenal to the Premier League summit for the first time since August.

“Winning is the main target,” said Guardiola. “Considering the last three days and the emotion and physicality in the game we played, we made an extraordinary game. The chances we created, we could score more goals, but the important thing is winning every game.”

Guardiola has spelt out the plan in the remaining matches, stating that, “five games in the Premier League for both teams and we see what happens. We had chances. We’ve to win the games, but it was clear, clear, clear. We were not “umph” in the last part of the shots.”

The Man City boss remains optimistic his side will win the matches at ‘all costs’.

“I completely agree that winning is all that matters, but not just in April, in September and October and November. We have to win at any cost, yeah, but we have to do something.”

Man City will now shift their attention to the FA Cup semi-finals against Southampton on Saturday.

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