On John Stones’ comments on the dressing room being angry at that performance: “It has to be, when you’ve lost a football game in that way especially in the last 25 minutes. It’s not easy to start the game 1-0 down immediately, like against Chelsea, but the team reacted really well again, so it makes 65 minutes until 2-1 and 3-1 and after that we lost what we should do. So you can lose the game what you have to do, you have to do it all the time.
“It has happened this season. [At]1-1, we have an action up-field to play Omar [Marmoush] and make a transition, two against one with Savinho and then we lose the ball and after [they] shoot, [there’s a] deflection. Many things have happened this season in that terms but you have to, another goal you concede, another goal you concede, another goal you concede. But you have to do what you have to do. If you decide to talk ‘we have to do this offensively or defensively’ you have to do it.
“In the first-half we controlled the game well, we should do it because we have specific players and this is the problem in the last 20 minutes.
“I don’t have a defence to defend my players, or myself first of course, for the last 20 minutes but the rest of the game was well played. This is my feeling.”
What does Pep mean, “I only regret the last 25 minutes”. That’s nearly a third of the game, if you don’t turn up for that amount of time in this league, well, you can see what happens!
‘We need to continue doing the things we can control’
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta, speaking to BBC MOTD: “It’s a great day.
“Considering the opposition that we played, the result we got and in the manner we did it. It makes it a special day.
“A lot of things have to go your way.
“They are so good they force you to be deeper and be in a situation that you don’t want to be. Sometimes you need a bit of luck and after that you have to be efficient.
“We had to be brave and it paid off.
“Things have to go your way and the line is so thin.
“I liked that the team showed a lot of personality and competitiveness.”
On Ethan Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly: “They play with a lot of personality. They are really brave, they have the courage, and they understand what we want. They play to make things happen. The players believe in them and that is a big thing.”
On the title race: “We need to continue doing the things we can control. Today was a difficult game for us and we managed to do it.”
Haaland is a world-class striker, he’s just playing in an era that expects the striker to be part of the build up instead of the target of the build up. If he played in the Henry/Drogba era he’d be unstoppable.
Erling Haaland of Manchester City reacts after conceding
Arsenal’s Ethan Nwaneri (17y 318d) and Myles Lewis-Skelly (18y 129d) became the youngest players to score in the Premier League against the reigning champions since Wayne Rooney netted for Everton against Arsenal in March 2003 (17y 150d).
Only Michael Owen and Wayne Rooney (9 each) have scored more goals for a Premier League side while aged 17 or younger than Arsenal’s Nwaneri (7).
‘We know we can beat any team’
Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard, speaking to BBC MOTD: “It was a top game and a top result.
“The atmosphere was unbelievable, and we all enjoyed that one.
“We were rewarded with the high press, we won the ball and scored. Second half they scored, but the way we reacted was brilliant. Then, after that, it was unbelievable what we did.”
On youngsters: “I think what they’re doing is unbelievable and I cannot praise them enough. Myles played from the start with confidence and Ethan coming on, impacted straight away. I love to see the confidence and the eagerness.
“I am totally proud of them.”
On the game: “There is a lot of pressure going into this game, but we played a brilliant game. We know we can beat any team and today we showed that.”
Arsenal
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta, speaking to Sky Sports: “It is a great day for us, especially with the necessity that we had to win the game. The manner that we have done it I am really pleased.
“We had to suffer and in moments we needed a bit of luck, and we had it.
“They hold you very deep and in those moments you have to suffer and as I said, there were moments that we were lucky.
“Overall, we scored some beautiful goals and the team showed a high competitive level.”
On Myles Lewis-Skelly: “You need big individual performances to beat them. Myles was certainly one of them, the maturity he showed and competitiveness as well.
“He plays with that personality and he’s scored a beautiful goal.
“He has been pushing us since he has been with us. We like his character and personality. He has so much courage.
“He has qualities that fit into the way we want to play. He got some minutes and he is asking for more. He deserves to play.”
On the transfer window: “I don’t know. I have been focused in the last 24 hours on what we needed to do to beat Man City.
“Intention, we have been clear from every angle of what we want to do.”
Micah Richards
I wouldn’t say the end of era, maybe coming to an end. We need to be realistic about it. They normally starve the opposition of the ball. In the second half they were giving away easy passes.
Foden so good on the ball, taking a risk. We didn’t see Haaland apart from the goal. I want him to be more aggressive, make more runs, give his team an option.
It’s sad to see. I don’t expect them to win the league every year but the fall-off has been so dramatic it’s sad to see what’s going on. But they’ll bounce back.
Thierry Henry
No, not at half-time. I felt there was a drop after the goal we scored. I’ve seen so many times where we go ahead early and are passive with it.
When we’re on the front foot and put pressure on, nobody can deal with us. But we gave Man City the chance. I don’t know why at 1-0 they don’t carry on playing higher.
‘I only regret the last 25 minutes’
Manchester City
Man City manager Pep Guardiola speaking to the BBC: “I only regret the last 25 minutes, we forgot to do what we should do, what we have done for 65/70 minutes. Of course it’s a difficult game starting in this stadium, against that team in the first minutes it’s happened many times this season.
“But after 10/15 minutes I think we took the game and played really, really, really, really good and we are in it after 1-1 and good momentum we pass to make the transition with Omar [Marmoush] and a deflection and the third goal.
