Super Sunday saw Arsenal and Manchester City serve up a dramatic Premier League encounter at the Emirates Stadium, with the match finishing 1-1 after Gabriel Martinelli’s stoppage-time strike cancelled out Erling Haaland’s opener.
Guardiola lauds City fight
City manager Pep Guardiola was proud of his players’ resolve after a gruelling week despite the team dropping precious points late on.
“We cannot make analysis without talking about what happened this week,” he told the club’s official website.
“We played tough games against [Manchester] United and Napoli [in the Champions League]. Hats off to the team and the resilience.”
The visitors had taken an early lead in London through Haaland’s counter in the first half and led for the majority of the match, only for Martinelli to nick a dramatic equaliser in injury time.
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Fatigue, injuries and pragmatism
Guardiola did not hide the ongoing effect of a heavy schedule on his squad.
“They were better and we were tired,” the Catalan admitted.
“We played an emotional game against Napoli and then we had four or five hours to arrive to London.
“It was so tough but we were there. We had to be so strong in terms of mentality and we have done it.”
The manager also listed the personnel problems biting at City, saying: “We have a lot of fatigue – how many injuries with John [Stones], [Rayan] Cherki, [Rayan] Aït-Nouri, Nathan [Aké] was out, and then [Abdukodir] Khusanov got injured.”
Those absences, plus the travel, go some way to explaining Guardiola’s more conservative approach in patches of the game at the Emirates.
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Deliberate switch of gears
Ultimately, City’s gameplan looked markedly different to their usual possession-first template – a point Guardiola both accepted and defended.
“We try not to be like this, but when the opponent is better and we have Erling who can run with such power, we have to do this,” he said.
“Remember how many counter-attacks we scored with Leroy [Sané], Raheem [Sterling], and Kevin [De Bruyne]?
“I would prefer not to do it, but I would expect in this level we have to do it.”
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