Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola admits his team has surpassed expectations over the past month.
City fell five points behind leaders Chelsea at the end of October with defeat by Crystal Palace but have won the 10 matches since.
That has prompted a 13-point swing, with the defending champions looking to extend their advantage away at Arsenal on Saturday before Chelsea host Liverpool on Sunday.
"It's an unexpected situation," Guardiola said. "Not even a month ago we were four or five points behind Chelsea and Liverpool.
"Don't be extremely satisfied when the situation is going good and not extremely depressed (otherwise) because with this amount of games and all the competitions - and I learned a little bit last season because of the covid situation - being relaxed is the best way to approach the next one."
City are threatening to rack up a run of consecutive victories akin to last season, when they offered the chasing pack no hope.
"Thinking about the long runs is stupid," Guardiola added. "It's just what's next, be ready and the most important thing is the desire and the commitment. The team has to say, 'yeah, I want to do it, I want to go there, and try to go again'.
"They compete against each other, we have five or six incredible strikers and we can just play three. Everyone was involved. Raheem and Riyad (Mahrez) were the best players against Leicester and at Brentford they didn't play one minute.
"In this kind of period everyone will be involved. And everyone makes their incredible contribution and that is why we are where we are."
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