Michael Brown believes that winning the FA Cup and qualifying for the Champions League would still represent a successful season for Manchester City.

Speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live Breakfast, the former City midfielder said: “If you end on that trophy in the FA Cup final, then yes [it’s a successful season]. I am there at the weekend. It’s going to be another difficult game.

“To finish third would be a positive and then it is going to be all eyes on what happens next for City. How can they be more consistent?

“There is talk about how they evolve the squad and then obviously there is the Club World Cup as well. So it’s an interesting summer coming up.”

Brown highlighted Pep Guardiola’s celebrations after the late winner against Aston Villa as evidence of how much the result meant to the City boss.

“He was aggressive in his celebration because he knew it was tight,” Brown said. “He knew he had been put under a lot of pressure.

“It was about just having patience. I was wondering was he thinking ‘you know what, I will take a draw here’? He doesn’t want to get beaten. I think that was in his mind – not to open up too early.

“But what an ending. Jeremy Doku finally produced a little bit of magic and of all people, Matheus Nunes gets the winner.”