Pep Guardiola says he "couldn't care less" about what his Manchester City teams have achieved in previous Premier League run-ins, as he takes the title race game by game.

Antoine Semenyo's goal proved decisive as City beat Leeds United 1-0 at Elland Road on Saturday, with the result moving them back within two points of leaders Arsenal.

City have won 11 of their last 16 Premier League games (four draws, one defeat), collecting 37 points in that time. 

That is at least five more than any other team have earned since the start of matchday 13, ahead of Arsenal with 32.

Momentum now appears to be on City's side in the title race, with Arsenal facing a difficult test against Chelsea on Sunday, and Guardiola's side have developed a reputation for finishing seasons strongly in the past.

But Guardiola is not looking to those teams for inspiration, telling Sky Sports: "I couldn't care less. What happened in the past, happened in the past.

"When we won 13 or 14 games in a row in the past to win the league ahead of Liverpool, I never knew we were going to win all those games in a row. It was game by game.

"We recover now, and the real season starts here, with many tough games.

"You play teams who are fighting not to go down or fighting for Europe. Every game is really, really tough – you saw it yesterday with Wolves winning [against Aston Villa]. It's tough."

City were without leading scorer Erling Haaland at Elland Road, after he sustained a minor injury in training, but they have now won 14 of their 18 Premier League games without the Norwegian since the start of 2022-23 (D2 L2), boasting a 78% win rate in that span. 

Asked if he was pleased to see City cope without their talisman, Guardiola quipped: "Yeah, but I'd wish he'd come back!"

Pressed on whether Haaland would be back for Wednesday's meeting with Nottingham Forest, Guardiola added: "I don't know."

Semenyo's goal took him to five Premier League goal involvements since joining City (four goals, one assist), with only Cole Palmer and Joao Pedro (six each) bettering that tally. 

It came after excellent work from Rayan Cherki and Rayan Ait-Nouri, and Guardiola was proud of his players for staying patient after a difficult start to the game. 

"It was a tough 10 or 15 minutes, like every game here. They are so aggressive in the duels. We made a thousand million passes, which works a lot in football," said the Spaniard.

"At first it was just passes without the sense to attack, as we know how tough they are. But in the end, it was a huge, huge win.

"We couldn't find the spaces in behind, we had to look a little bit more, and once again the guys made an extraordinary effort."