“Congratulations to Arsenal, they were better. We faced a team that has struggled to be in the Premier League’s top 4 in recent years, which started the season low. Today they are in the top 4 ”, declared Pep Guardiola at the end of Manchester City’s victory against Arsenal (2-1) at the Emirates Stadium this Saturday. A stunning success gleaned in the dying seconds when the formation of Mikel Arteta had largely dominated the first period, opening the scoring in the 31st minute by Bukayo Saka. Recognizing, lucidly, the superiority of the Gunners, the technician of the Citizens still wanted to highlight some aspects that could explain the poorer performance of his people and the form displayed by his opponent of the day: “They (the Gunners) had a week after their game against Norwich, we’ve only had two days since the game against Brentford. We had no more energy. That’s why I tried to put one more player in the middle, to give more control of the ball ”.
The rest of the story is now known, Manchester City won 2-1 thanks to a goal from Rodri in the 90 + 3rd. A situation that the Spanish technician did not expect: “We are not a team used to scoring in extra time. I can’t even remember the last time we scored in the 90th-plus. But at 11 against 10, we were able to take advantage of it and win the match “. One thing is certain, with this new success City take to the top of the Premier League, now eleven points ahead of runners-up Chelsea. Something to satisfy Pep Guardiola, filled by the current dynamic: “We won 11 straight matches, it’s great. In this period particularly. If you look at our bench, there were four guys from the academy. We have had a lot of cases of Covid-19 this season: Phil Foden. Or Kyle Walker, it was his first day since he had had the Covid. In this period today, we are very tired physically and mentally, and they were better. But football is like that. Sometimes it turns on your side “.