Pep Guardiola warns Manchester City not to be 'stupid' and get carried away with current form

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Pep Guardiola has warned his Manchester City players that they would be “stupid” to start getting over-confident despite their superb recent form.

Guardiola’s players lived up to the ‘Shark Team’ nickname given them by injured left-back Benjamin Mendy by producing one of the most impressive and ruthless attacking displays of the Premier League era to gobble up Stoke on Saturday.

Kevin De Bruyne was the game’s outstanding player, despite not scoring, as he provided two assists and was involved in the build-up for a further three goals, producing further evidence that he is the league’s best player right now.

Guardiola, though, is aware that the Premier League leaders face arguably their toughest test of the season so far tomorrow, when Napoli visit the Etihad Stadium in the Champions League.

Maurizio Sarri’s team lead Serie A with a 100 per cent record after eight matches and, like City with De Bruyne, have an in-form Belgium international attacking talent in Dries Mertens, whose form has been such this season that it has drawn comparisons with the great Diego Maradona.

With such tough opponents in town, Guardiola will not allow his players to start getting arrogant.

“Of course, if they think that, they will be stupid,” the manager said. “That isn’t going to happen. It is my target.

“I am going to show Napoli to my players – how good they are. Napoli can kill you with the high pressing. They are able to press our keeper.

“But I am very happy to have the opportunity to play this kind of game.”

Guardiola has good reason for optimism, given the form of his attacking players, not least De Bruyne, for whom two moments stood out in a brilliant individual performance.

First, there was a brilliant reverse pass, played while looking the other way, for Leroy Sane to roll across goal and allow Raheem Sterling to tap in City’s second goal.

After that, there the sublime diagonal through ball that bypassed the entire Stoke back four for Sane to run on to and slot in goal number six.

City’s brilliance was achieved without Sergio Aguero, left as an unused substitute after recovering from a broken rib suffered just over two weeks ago. It is a testament to Guardiola’s attacking riches that he has the option to bring back the Argentina forward for the Napoli game.

On Saturday, his team were three goals up after 27 minutes, with Gabriel Jesus touching in the first from Kyle Walker’s cutback, before Sterling tapped in the second and then set up David Silva to steer in the third.

Mame Diouf’s deflected effort gave Stoke one back just before half-time, and his header from 18-year-old debutant Tom Edwards’ cross then forced an own goal out of Walker, leaving the home support wondering if their team were somehow going to chuck the game away.

They need not have worried. De Bruyne slid a pass across goal for Jesus to convert his second, before Fernandinho blasted one in from 25 yards, Sane added the sixth and Bernardo Silva poked in his first since arriving from Monaco.

“With some of the goals we were running up, the boys were thrilled at how we had scored,” said centre-back John Stones.

“Kevin is a great player and it comes from the training pitch. You see it day in, day out.

“But all the boys up top have been on fire and it’s from the hard work in training.”

It was a tough afternoon for Stoke, who conceded seven or more goals in a match for only the fourth time since the Second World War.

“The good news is that we don’t have to play Manchester City for a while,” said manager Mark Hughes.

“Clearly I would say this after being beaten 7-2, but they do look significantly better than anybody else in the league.

“We’ve faced Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United this season and we’ve acquitted ourselves fine. But City were just very clinical.”