London: Pep Guardiola’s hunger to make history with Manchester City remains undiminished after his side became the first in the history of the English top flight to win 15 successive games.

City reached the milestone with a ruthless 4-0 victory at Swansea City on Wednesday, which preserved their massive 11-point lead at the Premier League summit.

They will face a sterner test on Saturday at home to a resurgent Tottenham Hotspur, but Guardiola is relishing the prospect of facing a rival team whose approach to the game chimes with his own.

“Tottenham, with Chelsea, is the best team in the way to play football,” Guardiola said.

“They don’t expect the other ones (to take the initiative) -- they want to make their own game. It is another amazing test for us.

“It is every three days. After Tottenham it is Leicester in the Carabao Cup, so there is not too much time to recover. “But we are ready to face them and try to keep that level we have shown in the last period.”

City’s win at Swansea made them the first team in the history of English league football to have won 15 games in a row and they now have new milestones in sight.

Beat Spurs at the Etihad Stadium and Guardiola will match his longest run of successive league wins with the great Barcelona team he led to a La Liga and Champions League double in 2010-11.

He would then be just three wins off the overall record for Europe’s top five leagues, which he also set -- a 19-game winning streak with Bayern Munich in 2013-14.

City’s relentless form, and the spellbinding quality of their football, has led some observers to suggest they could be the finest team England has ever seen.

Top-four scrap begins

With record-breaking City team galloping away towards the Premier League title, attention is starting to shift to the jostling for Champions League positions.

Manchester United, 11 points below City in second place, and third-place Chelsea are well placed, but beneath them the picture is more fluid.

Just a point separates fourth-place Tottenham Hotspur and seventh-place Arsenal, while Burnley and Leicester City are both threatening to crash the cabal of the ‘Big Six’.

United and Chelsea lower their sights United and defending champions Chelsea find themselves in a strange hinterland, both miles behind City — 11 and 14 points respectively — but otherwise enjoying broadly successful seasons.

Jose Mourinho’s United had gone 40 home games without defeat prior to last Sunday’s stormy 2-1 loss to City in the derby, while Chelsea have taken 22 points from a possible 27.

Agencies