Pep Guardiola urges Manchester City to kick on after 15th straight Premier League victory: 'If we don't win the title it will just be a record'

• e-mail

Pep Guardiola hailed his Manchester City record-breakers for the way they win the ball back 'like animals'.

Wednesday night's hammering of Swansea was their 15th win on the spin — more than any other team in history.

Incredibly, Guardiola now owns that honour in the Premier League, La Liga (14) and Bundesliga (19).

Manchester City secured their 15th consecutive league victory with a 4-0 win over Swansea

The Spaniard watched his team make top-flight history - and praised them following the win 

'In history there have been some amazing teams — Liverpool, [Manchester] United with Sir Alex Ferguson, Chelsea with Jose Mourinho,' the City manager said.

'A lot of good, good teams and we are the first ones to win 15 games in a row. Of course that will not make sense if we do not win the title, if we don't win the title it will just be a record.

'This record will be broken but it will not be easy. When (my players) don't have the ball they go to win it like animals. At this level it's so competitive. That means we are strong in the head.'

Raheem Sterling and Nicolas Otamendi chose the songs pumping out of their dressing room at the Liberty Stadium, again encouraged by Guardiola.

The Catalan said City will not be beaten by complacency, even with an 11-point lead. 

David Silva scored the opening goal for City, flicking past Lukas Fabiankski from close range

Silva chipped the ball past Fabiankski to ensure City maintained their lead at top of the table

'People have said a lot of good things about how good we play, and sometimes you can be distracted by this but it was the opposite,' he added. 

'Mikel Arteta came in after the warm-up and said, 'You can not imagine how good they did the warm-up', and that is a good thing.'

Swansea boss Paul Clement, a former assistant at Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich, claimed he has not seen a better side across Europe in recent seasons. He said: 'They are one of the best sides I have come across. They do the basics, the ugly side of the game.'

Meanwhile, the FA have given both Manchester clubs a further two days to submit observations on their derby bust-up.

United and City have until 6pm on Friday.

Bernardo Silva, Fernandinho and Co celebrate with Silva after his goal put them into a 1-0 lead

Sergio Aguero netted a fourth for visitors five minutes from time as they thrashed the Swans