Ilkay Gundogan only made his second start in a Manchester City shirt upon his return to the club in his side’s 2-2 draw against Arsenal.
Erling Haaland and Gabriel Jesus had a war of words in the aftermath of the clash — indicating the intense nature of the battle between both sides.
During the international break, Haaland admitted he does not regret throwing a ball at Gabriel’s head after John Stones’ late equaliser.
Ian Wright slated Haaland’s antics against Gabriel and labelled his choice to throw the ball when the Brazilian had his back turned to him as a “coward move.”
Shortly after the game, it was reported that Arsenal felt Manchester City’s players were “rattled” due to how several of their star players made disparaging comments about the visitors’ pragmatic approach at the Etihad Stadium.
Bernardo Silva accused Arsenal of “cheating” due to their intentions to run the clock down during September’s clash.
Ilkay Gundogan praises “incredible” Arsenal for their defensive approach vs Man City
Manuel Akanji claimed Arsenal always look for “drama” every time they go toe-to-toe with City as well.
While Gundogan thanked the Manchester City fans after facing Arsenal in what he described what was an “emotional game.”
Reflecting on the contest between the two sides on The Official Man City Podcast, Gundogan initially claimed that in his view, the hosts should have won the game.
Gundogan said: “It was an emotional rollercoaster, to be honest with you. Do I believe we should have won that game? 100 per cent.”
“Of course, I was a little bit disappointed that we didn’t get the three points. But when you see and you watched the game and you see we scored in 90 plus seven or eight [minute], I don’t know, the equaliser, of course, you take the point.”
However, Gundogan credited Arsenal for their defensive approach as he was left impressed by how they largely managed to restrict Manchester City despite playing with 10 men after Leandro Trossard’s sending off.
“You don’t want them to beat you, especially at your own stadium, especially with the way they have played. In the second half, they didn’t have another option to be honest with you. Because not just playing with one less man and stuff but playing against us with one less man for more than 45 minutes, I think it’s just an incredible task, you know.”
“And credit to them, I think they did really well, they defended really well, they were on it, they defended as a team, as a unit, very aggressive, always using their hands, their bodies to avoid things happening and they did really well.”
Pep Guardiola shared Gundogan view as he hailed Arsenal after Man City draw
Pep Guardiola hailed Arsenal’s strategy against Manchester City and much like Gundogan, he felt they were entitled to play how they felt like doing so.
Guardiola said: “What I said, I said it to Mikel [Arteta], you did it amazingly. So, it’s not a problem.”
“I would not be able to do it. They were brilliant. It’s about us, how we can break them and they did it really well in many things so always, it happens, we are not here to say to any team, you are going to play the way we want [you] to play, absolutely not.”
“We play in that way lately, we played a lot of defensive teams, Inter were so deep, Arsenal were so deep, for the reason, 10 against 11, today, Watford.”
Guardiola added: “It’s about us because it’s not the first time in eight years. Do you know how many times we have played teams in that way today or the last game? Do you know how many? Millions, millions.”
“And there are other teams who are more aggressive, they are more brave.”
The Catalan corrected himself, saying: “Brave, they are more attacking, whatever. It’s about us. What can we expect, ‘Oh guys, do whatever you want to win the game’, it’s not going to happen, you have to know it.”
It seems like both Pep Guardiola and Gundogan were more focused on how Manchester City could have improved their attacking display rather being fixated on Arsenal’s approach.
The likes of Bernardo and Akanji perhaps made their strong claims also due to the fact that they were discussing the encounter while it was fresh in their respective memories and their emotions were high.
Guardiola and Gundogan, however, seemed far more composed and gave comprehensive standpoints on the game.
By the time Manchester City travel to the Emirates Stadium to play against Arsenal in February, the pair will be hoping that their side put in a superior performance to the one they did at home.
After all, the match in question could have Premier League title-deciding repercussions.
