It isn’t often Pep Guardiola wishes he had suffered defeat. But as he looks back four months, to what now looks the moment Manchester City’s era of dominance came to an abrupt end, he said: “I would have preferred to lose that game and have Rodri all season, absolutely.”
Guardiola didn’t lose the game in question. John Stones’s 98th-minute equaliser against Arsenal in September seemed colossal in the context of the title race. Not now: or only in the way points have tended to escape Arsenal’s grasp. It was the second of seven games this season they have drawn after leading, despite a heroic defensive display in the second half.
