Guardiola admits City feeling the strain against Arsenal | OneFootball

In one of the most anticipated clashes of the Premier League, Arsenal and Manchester City drew this Sunday 1-1 at the Emirates Stadium, in the fifth round of the championship. For coach Pep Guardiola, the outcome of the match was positive.

“They were better and we were tired. We played an emotional match against Napoli and then had four or five hours to get to London,” said the coach, referring to the marathon after the midweek Champions League clash.

City: promising start

City opened the scoring just 9 minutes in with Erling Haaland, after a counter-attack led by Bernardo Silva. Guardiola’s team adopted a more defensive stance throughout the match, dropping their lines and betting on quick transitions.

“We can’t analyze this without talking about what happened this week. We played tough matches against United and Napoli. Kudos to the team for their resilience. When you’re not effective in pressing, it’s always difficult. I think the result was fair.”

Late equalizer

However, Arsenal dominated territorially and were rewarded for their persistence. In stoppage time, Eberechi Eze launched Martinelli, who took advantage of City’s high defensive line and lobbed goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma with precision.

“It was very tough, but we were there. We had to be very strong mentally and we managed it,” Guardiola concluded.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.