Pep rallies his troops for crunch period in three-way trophy tilt

SUNDERLAND, England - Pep Guardiola has told his Manchester City side it is now into "must-win" territory in its three-pronged bid for silverware this season.

City top-scorer Sergio Aguero's 23rd goal of the campaign and a third in as many matches from Leroy Sane sealed a comfortable 2-0 Premier League win at struggling Sunderland on Sunday as Guardiola's team reclaimed third place, eight points behind leader Chelsea.

Victory at home to Stoke on Wednesday will move City into second, above Tottenham Hotspur, in what promises to be a tense final two months to the season.

Guardiola's men are still in the Champions League, where they take a 5-3 first-leg last-16 advantage to Monaco, while in the FA Cup quarterfinals City faces Middlesbrough.

The former Premier League champion has hit form at just the right time, with seven wins in its last eight games boosting its hopes of ending the campaign with another trophy to add to the growing collection at Etihad Stadium.

"We're coming into some good form and making results, and that's important at this stage of the season," said Guardiola, whose side has lost only one of its 11 games in 2017.

It's an impressive run the Spaniard feels City has to maintain in its quest to cut the deficit on Antonio Conte's Blues, who can extend their advantage with a win at West Ham on Monday.

"We're coming to a stage of the season now in March and April where with every game if you win you stay, if you lose then you're out. Be that in the Premier League, in the Champions League or the FA Cup," Guardiola said.

"The players know that, we know, and the club knows that if we don't win the next game, then we'll be out."

City faces a pivotal trio of league matches against Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea starting later this month.

Those games will have a massive bearing on its hopes of landing another domestic title.

"That's why we have to continue on this run," Guardiola added.

"Up next comes Stoke and that's so important for us and we'll need our supporters right behind us so that we can reach the games against Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea with this unbeaten record and try to maintain that level against the good teams in the Premier League."

Guardiola is not ruling out catching Chelsea, saying: "It's up to others to judge our performance.

"We don't think to imagine the big targets and the big objectives, we just try to win the next game."

Even in a low-key display, City had too much quality against a Sunderland side that is mired in last place, six points adrift of safety, after winning just one of its past 10 league games.

Next up for the Black Cats is the visit of Burnley on March 18, before a key run of games in April that will go a long way to deciding its fate in what is a fifth consecutive relegation battle for the club, which has made a habit of escaping the drop into the Championship in recent years.

"April looks to be a really big month for us," said Sunderland boss David Moyes after seeing his side stretch its wait for a home league win to more than three months.

"We don't want to be adrift by then, but we've only got one more game left in March thanks to the way the fixtures have fallen.

"The heartening thing is that by the start of April we will hopefully have some key players back, the likes of Victor Anichebe, Lee Cattermole and Jan Kirchhoff," said the former Everton and Manchester United manager.

"If we can get the troops together in the final six or seven weeks of the season, then I think we've got a good chance of staying up."

Agence France-Presse