Heavy defeat, says Conte

Hitting back: Antonio Conte showed he has no time for the pundits’ criticism in this way – don’t concede space between the lines,” Conte said.

“When you play against City you have to use your brain, otherwise you risk to finish the game in a bad way and to lose 3-0 or 4-0. I think we tried to not concede the space for a long part of the match and that was good.”

City need four more wins to guarantee the title and Guardiola has told his players to complete that task before turning their attention to becoming the first Premier League side to try to surpass the 100-point barrier. Chelsea hold the record of 95 points in 2004-05.

“What really matters is to be champion,” said the City manager, who wore a Marie Curie daffodil instead of his usual yellow ribbon in support of imprisoned Catalan politicians. “I never spoke to players about the records, ‘We have to win these next two games to achieve something’. No. I assure you it’s about the next one. Of course [it’s tempting to think about records], but we’re not going to play for the records, we are going to play good, to win the games and after, it will be a consequence of that.

“Records are always a consequence of what they have done, but if you think about the records you forget what you have to do. If you have to analyse what the opponent does and after, we will see.”

Guardiola said he could never have imagined City would be 18 points clear at the top with nine games to play. “No way, no way, who could believe it?” he said.