Fabian Delph has proclaimed that patience and persistence was key for Manchester City, as a late strike from David Silva gave them a narrow 2-1 victory over the struggling West Ham United.

Relaxed a bit more and found the spaces

Many will have expected Pep Guardiola's side to walk over The Hammers when they arrived at The Etihad Stadium on Sunday, but their position in the Premier League table flattered to deceive as David Moyes' men made life difficult and even managed to take an unexpected lead through Angelo Ogbonna just before the break.

They managed to claw one back after the restart through Nicolás Otamendi but continued to be held back by the London club despite many attempts, before they eventually broke through with Silva's winner seven minutes from time.

It is the second time in a week that The Citizens have had to leave it late to collect the three points, and Delph stated post-match it was the side's persistence and patience that proved their success once again.

"It was difficult, teams seem to come here and get every man behind the ball," Delph told mancity.com. "Not interested in anything but parking the bus."

"It has happened a few times but we have players like David Silva in the team," the midfielder turned left-back stated. "So we knew if we kept going we'd get our chances."

"We knew we had to be patient," he proclaimed. "We came out flying in the second half."

"We tried to explain to the boys we still had time," Delph added. "And then we started to relax a bit more and found those spaces."

Taking it each game at a time

Sunday's win has only continued what has been City's unbelievable start to the campaign, with Silva's winner giving them 20th consecutive win in all competitions and their 13th in the Premier League.

Sunday's win equalled Manchester United's current record for the most consecutive league wins, Guardiola's men will have the chance to break at Old Trafford on Sunday and though he admitted it would be "nice" to break the record the focus will be on Wednesday's clash with Shakhtar Donetsk.

"It would be nice to break the record at Old Trafford," he said. "We want to win the derby but we are taking it each game at a time."

"We are not thinking about what has happened in the past," Delph concluded. "Or looking too far into the future."