Ruben Dias, Josko Gvardiol and Phil Foden struck for the 3-0 win on Saturday.
“Of course it’s better to be closer than further to the top of the league,” Guardiola said on the title race.
“In my experience, to win the Premier League, it’s about the consistency. The consistency comes from the way you play and how much you grow whether you are 2-1 behind or 4-1 in front.
“Today maybe has been one of the best performances of the season for 95 minutes. We had good momentum for the second half.
“It started from Wolves, the first half was really good, the second half we suffered. We did good things against Fulham in the first half and stopped in the second half. We talked about that and the reasons why.
“It’s not about specific movements defensively or offensively. Today, we played for 90 minutes against a team who have done well so far against top teams.
“We concede one chance today but apart from that it was a good performance.
“In the Premier League, we had the feeling that Arsenal are going to drop few points and if you want to be there you have to win games and that comes from the way you perform - not just a lucky day or lucky action.”
No more fight-backs
Guardiola was particularly pleased with the way they killed off Sunderland's threat on the day.
“We saw against Fulham in the second half it was tough and the reasons why. We said guys ‘if we improve that, we will be a better team’. If they don’t follow us, that’s when we are in trouble.
“I want to see the team grow. In knockout stages of the Champions League or the FA Cup, if you play one bad game it’s over.
“But in the Premier League, it’s long and the performance dictates if you will be there or not.
“5-4 against Fulham was three points but if we continue to do what we did in the second half, we have no chance. We will lose everywhere.
“In the league, you can have five, six games in a row that you don’t win. It happened to us last season and it has happened to many other teams this season. That’s why the way you play is the key for the future.”