Pep Guardiola: 'Quality' of Man City made the difference against Arsenal

Haaland on target in 3-1 win that sees Manchester City go ahead of Gunners on goal difference at Premier League summit

Erling Haaland celebrates scoring Manchester City's third goal in their 3-1 Premier League victory over Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium on February 15, 2023. PA

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta clashes with Manchester City's Kevin De Bruyne. Reuters

City attacker Erling Haaland is fouled by Arsenal's Gabriel and wins a penalty before it is overturned for offside after a VAR check. PA

Jack Grealish scores City's second goal. Getty

Jack Grealish celebrates scoring Manchester City's second goal. PA

Arsenal's Bukayo Saka scores from the spot. PA

Bukayo Saka celebrates after scoring for Arsenal. Getty

Arsenal attacker Eddie Nketiah heads a chance wide in the first-half. EPA

Manchester City's Kevin De Bruyne, right, celebrates after scoring. AFP

Arsenal defender Takehiro Tomiyasu shoots over in the first-half. Getty

City manager Pep Guardiola. Getty

Pep Guardiola said the quality of his Manchester City players proved the difference in Thursday's top-of-the-table clash against Arsenal that saw City leapfrog the Gunners at the Premier League summit.

Kevin de Bruyne's opener was cancelled out by a Bukayo Saka penalty before Jack Grealish and a late Erling Haaland strike wrapped up a 3-1 win for City at the Emirates Stadium.

City move ahead of long-time leaders Arsenal on goal difference, but Guardiola warned that the league is not over yet.

“The game was half-half,” Guardiola said. “It’s not easy to play against them, the build up they have is really good.

“We were in the game and at the end, the quality of the players made the difference.”

Arsenal, who have been top of the table since the third week of the season, have now lost three of their past four matches in all competitions, but do have a game in hand on their rivals.

For Guardiola, despite moving to the top of the table, he warned that there was a lot more of the season remaining.

He added: “There are still many games to play, the Champions League is coming, the Europa League is coming, so – but importantly is the fact we could have come here a few weeks ago eight or nine points behind and losing here will be almost over.

“Now for the fact that they dropped points, we came here for the chance to win the game and now we are there [at the top of the league].

“So far they’ve got better results than us – this is the reality.”

Arsenal v Man City ratings

ARSENAL RATINGS: Aaron Ramsdale 7: Left in no man’s land by Tomiyasu pass ahead of De Bruyne’s goal. Saw Rodri header hit crossbar on brink of half-time. Beaten by deflected Grealish shot and no chance with Haaland finish. Reuters

Takehiro Tomiyasu 4: Disastrous back-pass gifted opening goal to De Bruyne. Side-footed chance over bar at other end minutes later. Booked just after break for trying to steal a few metres with throw-in. Deflected Grealish’s shot for City’s second. Not Japanese full-back’s night. AP

Gabriel 6: Gave away second-half penalty and was booked for bundling over Haaland but rescued by VAR offside call against big Norwegian. Gave ball away at start of move that led to Grealish scoring. AP

William Saliba 7: Has been top quality this season and had OK night up against the toughest of opponents in Haaland but couldn’t stop Norwegian putting City 3-1 up. PA

Olseksandr Zinchenko 7: Left-back’s brilliant cross saw Nketiah miss first big chance of game. Frustrating night against former club who proved too strong in end. AFP

Jorginho 6: Slotted well into Arsenal’s midfield although one or two moments when he wasn’t quite on same wavelength as new teammates. AP

Granit Xhaka 8: Wild shot over bar in second minute but generally was Arsenal driving force from midfield. His fine pass put Nketiah through on goal that ended with penalty for Gunners. Took too long to get shot away when found himself in good position late in second half. AFP

Martin Odegaard 7: Not the dominating force in midfield that he has been so regularly this campaign. Not that Norwegian had bad game just City made life much tougher for midfielder after break putting him under much more pressure. EPA

Bukayo Saka 7: Kept his composure after long City protests over penalty decision before calmly sending Brazilian wrong way from spot. Took a few kicks off Silva until the City player was finally booked. AP

Gabriel Martinelli 6: Has been key player in Arsenal’s charge to the top of the table this season but couldn’t really get into the game here and taken off in second half. EPA

Eddie Nketiah 6: Headed glorious chance wide in 21st minute when he should have scored. Fouled by Ederson just after shooting from wide angle that resulted in Arsenal winning penalty. Booked for studs-up challenge on Dias. Missed another headed opportunity late in game. AP

SUBS: Landro Trossard (On for Martinelli 75’) 6: Had home fans appealing for penalty after going down in box but rightly waved away by referee. PA

Fabio Vieira (On for Xhaka 83’) N/A. PA

Ben White (On for Tomiyasu 83’) N/A. AFP

MANCHESTER CITY RATINGS: Ederson 7: Booked for time-wasting in first half then took out Nketiah minutes later to give away penalty. Arsenal managed just one shot on target against Brazilian all night when Saka scored from spot. Getty

Kyle Walker 7: Did well against in-form Arsenal attackers, particularly Martinelli who had very little impact. Unusual booking for coming back on to field without referee’s permission in opening 45 minutes. Reuters

Ruben Dias 8: Great covering in 11th minute when Portuguese centre-half was over quickly to Nketiah shot. Great defending again 15 minutes from time to nick ball off feet of Xhaka. Getty

Nathan Ake 7: Produced brilliant last-ditch sliding effort to clear Nketiah shot off line - only for referee to give penalty for Ederson’s challenge on Arsenal striker. Reuters

Ilkay Gundogan 7: German midfielder provided simple ball into feet of Grealish after quick City break ended with City attacker scoring. Also played key role in Haaland’s goal. Reuters

Rodri 8: Saw header just before break hit crossbar after clipping leg of teammate Ake. Regularly broke up Arsenal’s attacks and set team off on the counter. The fulcrum in midfield who was absolutely crucial to City’s win. PA

Kevin de Bruyne 9: Absolutely stunning first-time finish to clip ball over Ramsdale and put City in front and provided assist for Haaland’s goal. Angry shove on Mikel Arteta in second half when Arsenal manager blocked Belgian trying to take quick throw-in. Getty

Bernardo Silva 7: Extra defensive responsibility trying to contain Saka down the left flank but was no surprise when he picked up first-half booking for series of challenges on England attacker. Moved out on to right later in second half. EPA

Jack Grealish 7: England attacker put City back in front with a deflected finish in 71st minute for only his third goal this season. Booked for complaining after corner decision was, correctly, not given in his favour. AFP

Riyad Mahrez 6: Picked out Haaland with fine ball over defence in 15th minute but that was extent of his big moments in pretty quiet match for Algerian. Hooked just after hour mark. AFP

Erling Haaland 8: Only sniff of goal came in first half came after quarter-of-an-hour but could only redirect the ball back across face of goal with no teammate waiting. Won City a penalty only for offside call by VAR earlier in move. Finished confidently to put City 3-1 ahead. EPA

SUBS: Manuel Akanji (On for Mahrez 61’) 7: Saw shot blocked on line by Jorginho although might have been ruled out for offside call early in move. PA

Phil Foden (On for Grealish 77’) N/A. AP

Kalvin Phillips (On for De Bruyne 87’) N/A. EPA

Haaland applied the finishing touch to the scoreline for his 32nd goal of the campaign and his 26th in the league since his move from Borussia Dortmund last summer.

"I'm so happy," Haaland told Amazon Prime. "We needed this one and now we need to start going on a run because that's what Man City do."

Haaland is in his debut season in the Premier League, but many of his teammates have been part of City's four title-winning campaigns in the past five years and the Norwegian striker said that winning mentality was on display in North London.

"City, we – not me but all the boys and club here – are the champions so you can say so yes," added Haaland on whether Guardiola's men had delivered the performance of champions.

"They [Arsenal] have been the best team this season so to come on their place and play against them is not easy and we got three important points."

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta, right, gives instructions to midfielder Granit Xhaka. AFP

Arsenal had held an eight-point lead but it had been eroded as City found their form and they showed their quality again at the Emirates.

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta admitted his players were feeling downcast after the defeat and urged his side to be more ruthless going forward.

“We are all feeling down, especially because they knew we could do much better today to get a very different result and we just give them the game,” the Arsenal boss said.

“We have to pick the points because the performances are there for sure. What we’ve done today against this team, believe me that wasn’t the game that they wanted to play.

“But we wanted the points and we didn’t get them and at the end the games are decided in the boxes and we have given too much away today. We weren’t ruthless enough to convert our chances.

“That’s what we have to improve on.”