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

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 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

Haaland applied the finishing touch to the scoreline for his