Pep Guardiola has explained why his rampant Manchester City struggled against Arsenal in their 2-1 win at the Emirate Stadium on Saturday.
Second half goals from Riyad Mahrez goal from the spot kick and Rodri’s last gasp goal cancelled Bukayo Saka’s first half goal to hand City a hard-fought win on New Years day.
And Pep Guardiola admitted that Arsenal were better than his team because they had more time to rest.
“They were better,” the City boss admitted. “We faced a team that in the last years they’ve struggled to be in the top four.
“They started this season in the bottom and they are in the top four and they have six or seven days after the last game against Norwich.
“We have two days and a half and Brentford, was so tough, we came back to Manchester and we didn’t have energy, that’s why we tried to put one more player in the middle to have more control and more passes.
“In football we try to analyse many things but the coin sometimes falls down on your side, sometimes the other side, so that is the reality.
“In this period today we were incredibly tired so mental and physically they were better, Arsenal was better today.”
The defeat sees Arsenal remain in fourth, but only two points ahead of Tottenham who have two games in hand, meanwhile Man City have extended their league lead to 11 points.
