Mahrez maintained his superb recent form on Sunday, claiming a brace of goals to help City secure a dominant 4-0 FA Cup third round win over Chelsea.
It was our second success over Graham Potter’s side in three days with Mahrez also netting the winner in last Thursday’s 1-0 Premier League triumph at Stamford Bridge when the Algerian came off the bench to secure a precious three points for Pep Guardiola’s side.
Mahrez has been at his mesmeric, creative best since the resumption of action following the World Cup and also found the target in last month’s 3-2 Carabao Cup win over Liverpool which was City’s first competitive game following the Qatar showpiece.
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For his part, the 31-year-old believes settling back into a regular rhythm of games with the matches coming thick and fast has only proved beneficial.
But with a packed schedule continuing this week with Wednesday’s Carabao Cup quarter-final at Southampton followed by Saturday’s Manchester derby trip to Old Trafford, Mahrez also says City are training their focus purely on the next task in hand.
“I didn’t go to the World Cup, I trained for a bit in Abu Dhabi, and we came back here and trained more,” Mahrez reflected.
“It was better for us - we had the friendly game (against Girona) and then Liverpool (in the Carabao Cup).
“We take it game by game - when you play a bit you get the rhythm and I think everyone is good and fit now so we’re ready for games.
“First, we have Southampton in the Carabao Cup and then we focus on the derby. We just take it game by game.
“We really focus on the next game - that’s the mentality we have, and everyone is involved, and everyone is ready.
“We don’t project ourselves too far - we just focus on the next one and try to play well and to win it.”
Mahrez’s latest impressive display was capped by his stunning first-half free-kick which saw him open the scoring as he rifled home a sublime 20-yard set piece with his left foot.
And he revealed how he had made up his mind from the get-go that he would look to beat Chelsea keeper Kepa Arrizabalaga.
“It was a bit far, but I was speaking to Bernardo, who was next to me, and remember saying I think I’m going to shoot, and I just believed, and it went in on the other side of the keeper,” Mahrez revealed.
“When the ball left my foot, I knew it was going in a good direction and it went in the top corner, and I was really happy.
“It was a good free-kick. I never take it normally from that far out, but I saw the big space on the keeper’s left side and I was thinking if I shoot properly maybe it can go in. I did and luckily it went in so I’m happy.”
