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MANCHESTER. — Pep Guardiola said both Manchester City and Liverpool deserve to win the English Premier League football title after his side brushed aside Manchester United 2-0 on Wednesday night to top the table again.

Bernardo Silva and Leroy Sane struck for the visitors in 12 second-half minutes at Old Trafford to inflict a seventh defeat in nine games on United, who remain three points adrift of the top four.

Guardiola’s City have 89 points after 35 games, with Liverpool a point behind.

Both sides have just three games remaining.

“I understand the pressure we have and obviously here at Old Trafford with Marcus Rashford and Jesse Lingard running behind,” the City boss told Sky Sports.

“I told them we needed to play to win, it doesn’t matter if we concede.

“Now we go to Burnley and we know how tough it will be. It’s important to be calm. We are still not champions with three games left — it’s incredible with the points we have and Liverpool have.

“I told the players don’t read tomorrow, don’t watch the television, just rest and sleep a lot and go in there against Burnley.

“Both teams deserve the title, but it can be just one. The team that is going to lose can’t have regrets because they have given everything. Normally with this kind of victory, you can it enjoy it the most, but we have to be calm.”

Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer made no attempt to disguise the gulf in quality between his team and Manchester City, describing Guardiola’s side as “the best team in the country” after they won 2-0 at Old Trafford on Wednesday night.

“They have set the standard in the last two seasons and I don’t know how many points they’ve taken. What Pep Guardiola has done with his players is remarkable and we are so close to it, in the vicinity so we feel it every day,” said the Norwegian.

“We got a reaction and in the end we were beaten by a better team. But we got a reaction from fans and players and had a go.

“You can see the workrate was there, it wasn’t good enough though,” said the United boss. The players wanted to show they really care. The first half was positive, we were pleased at the break.’’  — AFP.