"It's a good point for us" says Pep Guardiola after Man City fail to beat Arsenal in 2-2 draw
By Hidayah Ali
Manchester City returned to Premier League action this weekend, after duties in the UEFA Champions League midweek where they ended their opening game 0-0 with Inter Milan.
The Premier League weekend saw a huge clash between Manchester City and Arsenal - which in recent seasons has become a game between the title contenders.
The heavily awaited fixture did not disappoint viewers, as both sides fought until the very end to gain full points.
Manchester City took the lead through top scorer Erling Haaland putting the Sky Blues up 1-0. However, Arsenal equalised just more than 10 minutes later as Calafiori found the back of the net from a long-range distance. Before halftime, the action didn't slow down as the Gunners put themselves ahead through a heading goal by Gabriel.
But, Arsenal took a downing before halftime as Trossard was shown a red card to put an end to his participation of the evening while making it 11 vs 10 for Man City going into the next 45.
The next half saw Man City trail throughout and it seemed as if Man City were going to end the game without a single point from their rivals, but John Stones had different plans as he was in the right place at the right time to tuck away a rebound effort from his teammate and a rather poor clearance from David Raya.
Both teams decided to end with a 2-2 draw, meaning one point a piece. For Manchester City, they continue at the top of the table one point ahead of Liverpool and Aston Villa and two ahead of Arsenal.
Pep Guardiola on the game
"Many, many things happened, they delayed the game and (we) still have this passion inside to fight the contender to steal our Premier League. Still, we are there. We started well, scored a fantastic goal and then conceded. We know that Arsenal are really quick with Martinelli and Saka. Calafiori makes an exceptional goal, the second goal we didn't defend well, give credit to them"
"After, 10 against 11 is (a) different (game). They defended s deep and we can cross but it's not easy with While, Gabriel, Saliba. They defend really good. We were so smart to not make quick actions and not concede fouls. That is good because the game continues. We could have scored before, we scored at the end. It's a good point from us."
"The space is not there in between and they defend really well. Kovacic and Dias is the options for the shot but they are not the best. Maybe it would have been different with Rodri. I thought to put Rben (Dias) on the right but I doubt it."
"Congratulations to Arsenal for being so strong mentally to block for a long, long time. That's not easy but we were patient."