Pep Guardiola has praised Manchester City for being an “honest team” who tried to win in the face of Arsenal’s “behaviours” in Sunday’s controversial 2-2 draw at the Etihad Stadium.
Leandro Trossard’s red card following a second caution for kicking the ball away at the end of the first half came as Arsenal led 2-1. With 10 players for the remainder of the match, Mikel Arteta instructed his side to slow down proceedings via various methods. City finally equalised when John Stones struck in the 99th minute.
Guardiola was asked how his team tried to handle Arsenal’s attempt to close out a first win at City since 2015. “Focus on the game and defend yourself,” he said. “Try to do what we’ve done for many years. Defend yourself, that is all I ask. I know what the opponents are going to do. Tactically there is always a way to try to do it. The behaviours we cannot control, don’t go away from what is important: the game. We are an honest team. We try to do our best.”
After the game Stones and Bernardo Silva criticised Arsenal’s “dirty” approach and “time wasting”, with Manuel Akanji going on to describe Arteta’s side as masters of the so-called dark arts. “Yes, I don’t think there are many better than them at it,” said the Switzerland defender. “Always when we play against them, that’s what they’re looking for – going hard in the duels, defence, 11 players in their own box and then go on set-pieces and try to score a goal. But in the end we always won the title and I don’t think it’s going to be different this year.”
When pressed on how difficult it was to ignore Arsenal’s tactics on Sunday, Guardiola said: “Don’t ask me, I cannot answer that question. There are things I cannot control. They [officials] are concerned if I am two metres away from my technical area. The rest? Listen, I’m not there.”
The City manager referenced the 2010 Champions League last-four match, where – in charge of Barcelona – he could not find a way to beat an Internazionale side that were down to 10 men. “I played many times, I lost a semi-final against Inter at home 10 against 11 and we were not able to come back because there were always problems,” he said. “It’s difficult to manage, which is why you have to be calm.
“Don’t make fouls. Give rhythm to their game as little as possible. I understand: 10 against 11, [David] Raya takes his time, the long balls. Sometimes cramp, another cramp. But stay in the game. It’s difficult. We did it really well. It was an entertaining game and I take the point.”
City lead the Premier League with 13 points, two more than Arsenal who are now fourth. “We’re playing good,” said Guardiola. “You expect to suffer against Arsenal and they had situations. They defended so deep, [Bukayo] Saka came inside a lot – it’s not easy. They are a really tough opponent, contenders the last two years. We were lucky to beat them [to those titles] and we know it.
“We talked about it after the game, that this is the level of our contenders. We handle it, accept the challenge and have 99 points [to play for].”
While City will assess Rodri after the Spain midfielder suffered what appeared to a serious knee injury in the first half, leading to him being replaced by Mateo Kovacic after 21 minutes, Kevin De Bruyne remains unavailable for Tuesday’s visit of Watford in the Carabao Cup due to a leg problem. On De Bruyne, Guardiola said “I don’t think it’ll be long” before the Belgian returns to action, suggesting he would not feature against Watford but that he was not yet ruled out for the league game at Newcastle on Saturday.
Meanwhile Erling Haaland, who opened the scoring on Sunday with his 100th goal for City, will not face Football Association action for throwing the ball at Gabriel Magalhães amid the home team’s celebrations following Stones’s goal. The Norway international will also not face FA action for his heated exchange with Gabriel Jesus after the full-time whistle. Footage shows Haaland calling the former City striker a “clown” having told a passing Arteta to “stay humble”.
Speaking to TNT Sports in his native Brazil after Sunday’s match, Gabriel Magalhães played the Haaland incident down. “I don’t even remember this,” the Arsenal defender said. “It’s normal, they were happy after scoring in the last minute … It’s a battle, a war and provocation is normal in football. Now it’s over and we’ll be waiting for them at our house.”
