Football
Jonathan Smith, Manchester City correspondent 6y

David Silva hails special Man City win on heels of 'difficult' derby

David Silva said it was a special victory after Manchester City's 4-0 win at Swansea set a new record of 15 consecutive league victories.

The Spaniard scored twice as City maintained their 11-point lead at the top of the Premier League with an emphatic win over the bottom-of-the-table Swans.

The win came just three days after a dramatic derby victory over closest rivals United and Silva said it was important to keep the winning streak going.

"Of course, it is special when you win so many games. It's important for confidence and our confidence is high at the moment," he said. "We are very happy. After the derby, to play in that way three days later was so difficult. We did well.

"We didn't talk about the record before the game to be honest. We go game by game to win and you saw that today."

City boss Pep Guardiola now holds the longest winning streak in the Premier League, La Liga and Bundesliga history. He won 19 successive games at Bayern Munich, 16 at Barcelona and can now equal that tally against Tottenham on Saturday.

The Catalan is proud of the honour and insists his players can maintain their intensity.

"We are so demanding for our players. We can lose, we can drop points but complacency, never happened in the past, the present or the future," the City bossĀ told the BBC.

"Winning 15 games in a row gives us a lot of confidence. If people are happy watching us that is the best gift."

Guardiola admitted that it was an awkward fixture coming just three days after the Manchester derby and ahead of Saturday's game against title rivals Spurs.

He made a number of changes to his starting lineup but his side still controlled the game -- racking up 78 percent possession and completing 831 passes -- nearly four times more than Swansea.

"Considering we have a lot of games in our legs, a demanding game at Old Trafford three days ago, we were solid, we were serious and we made a good performance," he said.

"You suffer and enjoy, like a manager you see many things. When the team play good we are happy."

It was a painful night for Swansea boss Paul Clement whose side are now bottom of the table, two points from safety.

"At times it was horrible to be on the sideline watching that, seeing my side trying but suffering for long periods," Clement said.

"They're not the games that will decide our season but it was hard to watch at times because they were so dominant.

"For me, one of the best sides I've ever come across. So many good athletes, so many intelligent footballers and it's really hard to pin them down.

"We actually had some attempts on their goal so I'm disappointed we didn't get on the scoresheet but they were a far superior side to us. We've got to put it aside that game."

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