Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola was delighted to see his Premier League leaders survive the ‘pace and threat’ of Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli during Wednesday’s 3-1 win at Arsenal, speaking to the City website.
Sometimes, games of such magnitude are broken open either by a mistake or by something a little special. In the end, it was both; Takehiro Tomiyasu’s underhit backpass in stark contrast to the wonderous finish applied by a grateful Kevin de Bruyne.
It’s testament to the iron-clad mentality Mikel Arteta has instilled into this Arsenal team, however, that the Gunners roared back in front of a febrile crowd; Bukayo Saka levelling from the penalty spot.
The student looked his master in the eye and threatened to teach the old man a lesson; Man City’s 36 per cent possession the lowest total of Guardiola’s entire managerial career.
“It is not easy to play against them,” Guardiola sighed at full-time. “The build-up they have; Jorginho, Alex (Zinchenko), Saka, (Martin) Odegaaard. The pace and the threat of Martinelli and Saka. It’s always so, so dangerous
“But we were still in the game (towards the end), and the quality of the players made the difference.”
Man City late show sees off Arsenal at the Emirates
For all of Arsenal’s guile and poise, the killer instinct that Man City demonstrated with two late goals – Jack Grealish and Erling Haaland both scoring in the final 20 minutes – was arguably the only thing missing from a raucous Gunners display.
Arsenal’s defeat sees them tumble off the top of the Premier League table for the first time since early-November, even if the London giants do have one game in hand.
And Guardiola is delighted to see his City slickers cut the gap; taking advantage of Arsenal’s recent dip in a manner that screams ‘hallmark of champions’.
“They have one game left (in hand). So I consider them top of the league,” Guardiola explains.
“We could have come here a few weeks ago, when we were eight, nine points behind. Losing here (the title) would be almost over. And now, for the fact that they dropped points and we won the game, we are there (at the top).
So far, they have got better results than us. That is the reality.”
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