Bernardo Silva admits Manchester City thought they had lost the Premier League title race last week but believes returning to the top of the table has now given them an important psychological advantage over championship rivals Liverpool.
Pep Guardiola's side went above Liverpool for the first time in two months, albeit on goal difference having played a game more, following a 2-0 win at Everton.
Only eight days ago they faced the prospect of falling seven points adrift after losing to Newcastle but successive 1-1 draws for the Reds against Leicester and West Ham, coupled with back-to-back wins for City, have wiped out the deficit.
Both sides are level on 62 points but City's seven-goal advantage puts them on top.
Asked whether moving back above their rivals was psychologically important, midfielder Silva said: "Of course. Mentally, it is a big boost for us.
"We know what it means to win. We are still the champions and we know what we have to do to win it but it doesn't matter a lot.
"A few days ago, we thought we had lost the Premier League. Now we are top of the league, even if it is because we have played one game more.
Man City will end the day top of the #PL for the first time since 15 December 2018, when they were top after a win over Everton#EVEMCI pic.twitter.com/2G8eFrjZIY — Premier League (@premierleague) February 6, 2019
"It is good to be back in the race and we will do our best to win all our games and do our job. That is the most important thing for now.
"We have three points more and it puts a bit of pressure on, not just for Liverpool but for Tottenham as well."
City are still fighting on four fronts and they face Newport in the FA Cup, Chelsea in the Carabao Cup and Schalke in the Champions League all before the end of the month.
"We are still in four competitions, we are still fighting for all of them. That is what we want to do until the end of the season," said the Portugal international.
PEP 💬 Being top is much better but Liverpool has to play (their game in hand) at Old Trafford. Now we have an incredible test next Sunday without much time to prepare, then the Champions League starts again. It's none stop! — Manchester City (@ManCity) February 6, 2019
"In my opinion, it is not problematic at all – especially when you have a squad like ours.
"If we don't have injuries then I think we can cope, no problem at all.
"The worst thing for us is having to wait to play. It is so boring when you have seven days without a game.
"It is good to have lots of games as it means we are fighting for everything. Mentally it is good. We will try to do it."
ga('create', 'UA-72310761-1', 'auto', {'name': 'pacontentapi'});
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'referrer', location.origin);
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension1', 'By Carl Markham, Press Association Sport');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension2', 'a2a4b402-5e87-46ad-9ae3-c09f8f0989a0');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension3', 'paservice:sport,paservice:sport:club-news,paservice:sport:football,paservice:sport:uk,paservice:sport:world');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension6', 'story');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension7', 'composite');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension8', null);
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension9', 'sport:football');
ga('pacontentapi.send', 'pageview', { 'location': location.href, 'page': (location.pathname + location.search + location.hash), 'title': 'We now have the mental edge on Liverpool \u2013 Silva'});
