City had quite a few injuries to manage, with Kevin De Bruyne being the standout one. Besides, they also missed their midfield anchor Rodri through suspension.
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Manchester City suffered a shock defeat to Arsenal in an intense Premier League battle at the weekend. It was the most-anticipated game of the weekend since two sides fighting for the league title were going head-to-head. Even though there were very few chances in the game for both sides to score, the match was a keenly-fought tactical battle. In the end, a deflected strike by Gabriel Martinelli helped the Gunners register all three points.
Moreover, Manchester City had quite a few injuries to manage, with Kevin De Bruyne being the standout one. Besides, they also missed their midfield anchor Rodri through suspension. His absence was already felt in their previous games and the same trend continued on Sunday. Even though Man City tried different combinations, they clearly missed Rodri’s presence in the middle third. Pep Guardiola, quoted by the club’s website, said after the match, “Rodri is a really important player.”
He added: “In the last years he has played a lot of games. The Carabao Cup (defeat) is different, but today and Wolves [missing Rodrigo] was important. We know it. At that moment he was not there, so as a manager I have to find a way to do it. It didn’t work against Wolves with Mateo alone there, so we wanted more players in those positions with other options. That was the plan, but we didn’t win.”
Even though City lost the crucial game, Guardiola is not going to lose any sleep over it. He feels it is still early in the season to worry about the title. “I have gratitude for the guys, they gave everything. I know how disappointed they are because they are not used to it. It is football, it happens. We do not have to win the Premier League. No team ever has won four Premier League in a row. We are behind but it is October. Last season it happened but the season is long. We have people coming back and we will try to beat upcoming opponents like Brighton and United. We will continue,” he explained.
Guardiola then went on to congratulate Arsenal for the victory, as he felt that it was a tight battle, with very few chances in them. “It was a tight game. Congratulations to Arsenal for the victory. We started really well in the first minutes, they started really well in the second half. With Martinelli they increased the rhythm. We didn’t create much, they didn’t create much. We defended really well, both teams. At the end one deflection was the difference,” he elaborated.
The manager further added: “They defended brilliantly. How many [chances] did they have? We didn’t have much. It is what it is, it was a tight game. In football it happens, they did everything but football at this level the details, margins and quality are the difference.”
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