Pep Guardiola has told Arsenal that his Manchester City team beat them ‘without being who we are’ and heaped praise on his side for showing ‘resilience’.
Man City beat Arsenal 3-1 at the Emirates last week to temporarily leapfrog them in what was a huge blow to Mikel Arteta’s team.
But the title race took a new twist on Saturday as the Gunners returned to winning ways with a win over Aston Villa as City drew with Nottingham Forest.
Those results mean that the London side are now two points clear of City at the top of the Premier League table with a game in hand as the Gunners look to lift their first title since 2004.
City face RB Leipzig in the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday but in his pre-match press conference Guardiola decided to bring up the recent victory over Arsenal.
‘The team is there, I have the feeling,’ Guardiola, who has led his side to four of the past five Premier League titles, said. ‘We won in London against Arsenal.
‘Maybe we weren’t who we are but we competed really, really well. Without that it’s impossible to achieve that result.
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‘The way we played that game we had something we normally had in the past like the resilience.
‘The last game against Nottingham Forest was our highest standards, I loved the way we played. We didn’t win because it’s football.
‘Sometimes it happens, I don’t have an answer on what happened for this type of situation.
‘But today we trained and yeah, the team is there. That doesn’t mean we’re going to win or get results. But I have a good feeling. Honestly.’
