Pep Guardiola has told Manchester City that big clubs forget the last result as he urged his Premier League leaders to get back to winning ways against Watford.
Crystal Palace halted City’s run of consecutive league wins at 18 with Sunday's goalless draw — and only Ederson’s stoppage-time penalty save stopped a first domestic defeat of the campaign.
Boss Guardiola’s side still stretched their lead at the top of the table to 14 points before starting a run of three home games in three different competitions when the Hornets visit on Tuesday night.
With striker Gabriel Jesus and midfielder Kevin De Bruyne out after picking up injuries at Palace, the Catalan coach was asked if the Watford game was now a “test of character”.
He responded: “The character is always there. To make the numbers we have this season — the second round of last season, and this season as well.
“The character we have to prove every day — once again and once again.
“The big clubs forget immediately when they win or they lose, and think immediately of the next one, and that is what we try do to in this club.”
The Selhurst Park stalemate was only the second time this season – after a 1-1 with Everton at the Etihad in August – that City have failed to take all three points in the Premier League.
“I have the same feeling now that we’ve dropped two points as I had before we came to Palace, the same feeling,” Guardiola insisted.
“We have a lot of experience in that. You play all the teams with a lot problems, with many, many injuries, with a lot of tiredness, mentally, and that’s why there’ll still be a lot of things to do.
“But of course, we’re in a good position.
“You tell the players, ‘Don’t worry about winning the title or not winning the title; focus on the next game and what you have to do against Watford and try and win three more points.’That is what we have to do.
“If you think about far away we’re going to distract them from what we have to do, and that would be a big mistake.
“We were able to get a lot of wins in a row; we can go a lot of games without winning.
“That happened in the past, and with many, many other teams. We just focus on what we have to do, correct our mistakes from Palace, keep going, and at the end of the season we will see.”
Keeper Ederson added: “This team has already proved its mentality many times, to keep winning for so long and I think we will react positively.
“We will keep playing our way, and keep winning, I think the team will give its answer against Watford.”
Although the winning run ended, the unbeaten season continued thanks to Ederson’s late penalty save from Luka Milivojevic.
He studied Milivojevic’s spot-kick technique and said: “It was a crunch time, and I knew how important it was, so I am really happy to save it.
“Before every game, Claudio Bravo and I sit with the goalkeeping coach to study the opponents’ penalty-takers for these situations.”