Liverpool FC have shown Man City how to manage Arsenal late goals

"When the people say 'they are lucky' and my son and daughter say 'they are lucky', I say 'it is not lucky'.

"It is lucky when it happens one or two times but when last season it happened six or seven times in the last minutes, to come back and win the game, and then this season, it is a special quality. The mentality and talent to learn that, I don't believe in football about lucky when it happens many, many times, it is because they're talented."

Pep Guardiola was speaking about Liverpool in 2019 but the words are also valid for Mikel Arteta's Arsenal in 2022. Any Manchester City fans getting giddy about an unexpected favour from Bournemouth on Saturday were brought back down to earth by two Arsenal goals and then dismayed by a 97th-minute winner from Reiss Nelson.

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The Emirates was also rocking from a late winner against Manchester United this year, yet it is the wins over Bournemouth and Aston Villa that will resonate louder at the Etihad. Twice since losing to City the Gunners have looked like losing more points, and twice they have come back with a champion spirit to claim all three.

On both occasions, there has been a psychological swing to the league leaders. When Kyle Walker turned up at Nottingham Forest a few weeks ago and spoke about the Villa-Arsenal result impacting on City, the Blues had the chance to go two points clear at the top of the table; within a few hours, Arsenal were two clear instead.

The psychology can of course work both ways. Securing such dramatic wins can be as ecstatically uplifting to you as it is crushing to your opponents, yet the highs are still draining; as Guardiola said after defeat to Tottenham last