City were briefly replaced at the top of the table by Liverpool earlier in the day following their victory over Watford, but responded in kind with a comfortable 2-0 win over Burnley.
But the boss wants his players to believe that they cannot afford to drop any points between now and the end of the campaign in order to stay at the top of their game.
“We have to feel the pressure that every game we play we can’t lose. If we lose we can’t win,” said Pep.
“We have to feel the pressure. We have to concentrate on Champions League, then have five days to prepare for Liverpool.
“Feel the pressure, live it and handle it or else we won’t be champions.”
Guardiola says Liverpool’s result ahead of kick-off made no difference to the plans for the game at Turf Moor.
“To be honest, we don’t speak much about being contenders to be champions this season,” he said.
“We travelled one hour on our coach to do our job. We were lucky to score within 10 minutes, but the grass was so high.
“We controlled and didn’t concede much free-kicks or corners or these type of situations where Burnley are a top class team.
“We had two or three chances to score and kill the game and get more for our goal difference against Liverpool, but after an international break it always uncertain how the players will come back.
“Now it is the Champions League and prepare for Atletico Madrid.”
The City boss says there was no discussion to reserve energy at the break with two huge games on the horizon.
In fact, it was quite the opposite.
“We spoke at half-time to play with a purpose not just to pass the ball,” he said.
“In the second half, they pressed more like Burnley are, two versus two up front against our defenders, and were more aggressive.
“It’s not conservative. With long balls, anything can happen.”
There was also praise for Raheem Sterling who provided two excellent assists that Kevin De Bruyne and Ilkay Gundogan profited from in the first half.
“Raheem came back from the national team, with the boost of a goal and being the captain for England and you saw today how he played with the assists from the right side.
“I have the feeling he is arriving at a really good moment.”
