Manchester City midfielder Ilkay Gundogan has warned teammates they must not relax despite their lead at the top of the table.

Pep Guardiola's men are closing in on the Premier League title following Sunday's 1-0 home win over defending champions Chelsea.

City now need just four more wins from their last nine games to be crowned Champions and can land the title before the end of March.

Gundogan said: "In my experience it's not always good, to lose one, two, even five per cent of having that pressure, game by game.

"I don't know if it would be good to win the league that early. Obviously we want to win it and if we do, when that happens is not really in our hands. But you need rhythm, and to always play seriously.

"I'll give you an example. The second leg against Basel is coming up after we dominated the first leg and won 4-0, but there is a second one to go.

"You should always try to play in a serious way. If you are able to win the league quite early, you can lose that seriousness for the Champions League.

"We have to keep going at the same level because I remember a few years ago playing for (Borussia) Dortmund and with three or four games left before the season finished we were already champions.

"It was a surprise as well, as Bayern Munich were always the dominant side in Germany, but there were a few games to go.

"We also had the possibility of breaking a record for gaining points, which was 81 points at that time.

"We told ourselves we wanted that record, even though the season was over and we had the trophy. We wanted to play the last games in a very serious way, keep our form and our mentality. That's quite important, keeping it going.

"In the Premier League it looks very good, we are in a very comfortable position and are enjoying it until the next game.

"We know we have had an amazing season and we just want to continue that in both competitions - and be successful."