His side made it four successive wins in the Premier League with an impressive 4-1 victory over recent rivals Liverpool on Saturday.
Leaders Arsenal responded later in the day with a win over Leeds United to remain eight points clear at the top, having played one game more and with a visit to the Etihad Stadium still to come.
And the boss says City cannot afford any slip-ups with the season potentially following a similar pattern to those when we went toe-to-toe with Jurgen Klopp’s side before clinching two titles on the final day of the season.
“We are in the moment that we lived before,” Guardiola said. “I have the feeling that if we lose a game we lose the competition.
“The biggest opponent I had in my career is Liverpool, we had to win 18 games in a row and 14 games in a row to win the league. That is a good way to play. If we lose to Southampton, we are out.
“I don’t expect Arsenal are going to drop a lot of points like I didn’t expect it in the past when we won the Premier League by just one point against Liverpool.”
City have won our last seven matches in all competitions but with a two-legged Champions League quarter-final with Bayern Munich and an FA Cup semi-final against Sheffield United on top of the Premier League run-in, Guardiola says consistency will be key.
“We are playing good but to arrive in the position we have arrived in the Champions League, FA Cup and league, we have to have been consistent and that is what happened,” he added.
