Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola hailed the "intensity" shown by his side after it fought back from a goal down to clinch a 2-1 Premier League win at home to Southampton.
City defender Kyle Walker scored an 86th-minute winner for City on Saturday after Sergio Aguero cancelled out James Ward-Prowse's opener for the struggling Saints.
The victory ensured City kept pace with Premier League leader Liverpool, which secured a dramatic 2-1 victory of its own away at Aston Villa.
Defending champion City remains six points behind Liverpool, which it faces at Anfield a week on Sunday.
"We did everything we could and in the end our intensity, and our players, paid off," Guardiola told BBC Sport.
"They are top quality players, they are fast players. It was our job to try and beat Southampton and we did.
"It is not about what Southampton do or play but it is about how we reacted to that.
"Today we have to do everything. We have to take the rhythm that we needed in every sense of the world – from how we pick the ball out of the net to how we take throw-ins or corners.
"We did everything, it was so difficult to attack when they defend with 11 players. It was a good comeback."
City defender Walker was pleased with the resilience shown by his team-mates.
"We stuck at it, we kept knocking on the door," Walker said to Sky Sports.
"Thankfully for me the door came open and I was the one that got the goal.
"It’s tough when teams put 11 players behind the ball. We have players who can spin a game on its head and we did that today.
"It was a crazy game to play, scoring was one of those crazy moments.
"They slowed down our pace which makes it difficult but we stuck to our game plan and it came out okay in the end.
"Every three points is vital. We have the quality - it is about the mental state of the players. We have to keep positive."
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