Pep Guardiola has heaped on Manchester City's midfield magician David Silva, as the Spaniard put in a man-of-a-match performance in The Citizens' significant 2-0 win over Stoke City.

Controlled the tempo perfectly

Many consider Silva one of, if not the best player that have pulled on a City shirt especially in the sheikh era, but like many he has come on leaps and bounds since the arrival of Guardiola.

Spaniard has now notched up eight goals this season with the visit to The Bet365 Stadium, with goals either side of half-time increasing their lead at the top of the table to 16 points and Guardiola was full of praise for the Spaniard post-match.

"The goals, I am happy for David today," Guardiola told his post-match press conference. "He has scored a lot of goals this season and the minutes he played."

"He controlled the tempo perfectly," the coach proclaimed about the Spaniard. "Normally people talk about his skills and technical ability and after that, he cannot be an aggressive competitor. And he has both."

"And I think the mix, with especially David, and Ilkay Gundogan," Guardiola added. "They are more aggressive and attacking with more runs in behind, and that also helps us a lot to control the games."

Once in a lifetime

Though it has been expected by many for some time now City are edging ever so closer to their third Premier League title, with the win against Paul Lambert's side bringing them within two wins of lifting the trophy.

This has meant the opportunity has arose for them to win the title against bitter rivals Manchester United depending on their result at Goodison Park, and captain Vincent Kompany stated he knows winning the title against The Red Devils is a "once in a lifetime opportunity" for The Citizens.

"I think everybody in the blue side of Manchester knows it's a once in a lifetime opportunity," Kompany said on City's chances of winning the title against The Red Devils. "But steady, we've one more game before United, which will be difficult, and then we see."

"I'm sure it won't be handed to us," the Belgian stated. "It's that time of year where you feel every win takes you one step closer to your goal."

"The manager said it before the game," the skipper concluded. "We'll look to keep this standard until the end of the season and hopefully into next season as well."