MANCHESTER, England -- Raheem Sterling can get even better claims Pep Guardiola after the winger's starring role in Manchester City's 3-1 victory over West Ham United.
The England international scored twice and tormented West Ham full-back Arthur Masuaku in a brilliant all-round performance at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday.
It's a complete turnaround in form for Sterling, who struggled in the second half of last season at City and then endured a miserable summer at Euro 2016 as England crashed out in the round-of-16.
The 22-year-old is brimming with confidence since he joined up with Guardiola but the City boss says the player deserves all the credit for his transformation.
"I did nothing, I try to do the best for all the players," he told a news conference. "Raz has scored two goals, that's good but for me the games before were more brilliant.
"The first half he didn't win, he scored, but he didn't win as many balls as he has in previous games.
"Of course we are so pleased about his spirit. He's so dynamic, so aggressive with and without the ball -- I'm so happy he's playing good.
"I just tried to help him, to tell him he'll received the ball more often if he stays in his position. After that, it's his talent.
"When City bought this player with an important amount of money it's because of his talent. I'm happy for him, for us and for the national team."
Sterling started the scoring in the seventh minute when he rounded off a brilliant passing move before Fernandinho doubled their lead with a fabulous header.
But Michail Antonio pulled a goal back in the 58th minute and City didn't wrap up the three points until Sterling's second in injury time.
The win sends City top of the Premier League heading into the international break and maintains their perfect start to the season, but Guardiola insists they will improve.
"We can play better, no doubt about that," the Spaniard added. "We are just two months here, not too much and I didn't expect to play in this short time, like this.
"We played good first half. After we received the goal from West Ham from their first chance, we had the mentality to control our emotions very well.
"We didn't concede any more chances and we made a lot more. We deserved to win by more goals but the performance was good. We need Ilkay [Gundogan] and Sane because these guys who played today cannot play every game.
"From the first training session, the friendlies and the official games I have no complaints about the attitude and behaviour of the squad."
West Ham manager Slaven Bilic praised the way his side fought back but said admitted that they didn't deserve to come away with a point.
"We hung on until half time and I didn't ask my team to turn the game around, just to show their qualities and enthusiasm and we did that," he said.
"After the goal, you can't say we deserved to equalise. We put them under pressure and forced them to make some changes. We took a risk. We opened up. They had many opportunities.
"With so many players we are missing, I have to praise this team. We can't play much better than we did in the second half especially when you are missing six seven eight players and you play against them."