Manchester City star Raheem Sterling says his side had to struggle a lot before finding their best form.

The Citizens are now the best team in England by some distance, and near certainties to win the Premier League.

But Sterling admits there were some hard times before they went on this record breaking winning run.

"We knew it was a difficult start to the season," the attacker told BBC Sport's Match of the Day.

"We knew we just needed to give our all.

"It wasn't all sunny days. We've had to grind out lots of 1-0 wins throughout the season and it's another one here today. We just had to keep grinding out those wins and now we're in a better position for it."

Sterling added: "They're a good team.

"You can see how they play under Mikel [Arteta] and we struggled at times, but we kept our composure and ground out a result."