Man City sealed a dramatic late 2-1 win against the Gunners at the Emirates on New Year's Day.
Pep Guardiola did not hide the fact that Arsenal FC were the better team when Manchester City visited the Emirates Stadium on Sunday, adding that his stars “didn’t have energy” to control the game.
Arsenal were excellent for the majority of the clash, thoroughly deserving of the lead that they took in the first half as Bukayo Saka fired home Kieran Tierney’s low cross.
But in the second half, Pep Guardiola’s Cityzens got themselves back into the game when Riyad Mahrez levelled the score from the penalty spot after Bernardo Silva was clumsily fouled down in the 18-yard box by Granit Xhaka.
A few minutes later Gabriel Magalhães was sent off for the hosts as he got a second yellow card following his tackle on Grabriel Jesus.
The Brazil defender Gabriel had already gotten a yellow card for yelling at the referee Stuart Attwell after Mahrez equalised for the Premier League defending champions.
Then late on, Spanish midfielder Rodri scored the winner from close range to give Man City all three points and extend their lead at the top of the English top flight table to 11 points, though, Chelsea and Liverpool are in action at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.
All in all, Guardiola admitted that on a different day, the Gunners would have taken three points.
'They (Arsenal) were better,' Guardiola said. 'We faced a team that in the past years has struggled to be in the top four and started this year in the bottom, bottom, bottom and they are in the top four and they had six or seven days from Norwich, we had two and a half from Brentford going back to Manchester and coming back.
'And we didn't have energy, that is why we tried to put one more player in midfield, for control.
'We tried in the second half to change it, football we try to analyse many things, sometimes it is the coin, sometimes it comes down on your side, sometimes the other side. That is the reality.
'We know what it means to win at the Emirates against Arsenal in the moment they are in. It was difficult, now we find time to rest.'
When asked if the title race was over, Guardiola replied: 'It is unlikely, I told you before. Eleven games in a row, that is great in this period.
'Just take a look at our bench today, there were four guys from the academy. We had many cases of Covid and injuries. This period we were incredibly tired.
'Arsenal was better today. Sometimes it can happen.'
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