Despite Manchester City’s 3-1 victory over Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium, Jack Grealish has praised Arsenal as the better team.
Manchester City extended their lead at the top of the Premier League table with a hard-fought 3-1 victory over Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday night. Despite the result, City midfielder Jack Grealish was quick to praise the Gunners, hailing them as the better team on the night.
The match was a significant clash between two top managers in Mikel Arteta and Pep Guardiola. The game started with City taking the lead through a Kevin De Bruyne lobbed finish, but Arsenal equalized via Bukayo Saka’s well-taken penalty.
Despite some promising moments, the hosts couldn’t convert their chances and were made to pay for it when Grealish fired City ahead. Erling Haaland added a third goal to seal the three points and send the visitors to the top of the league.
While Arsenal still have a game in hand, they have only managed one point from their last three matches, which is far from ideal for Arteta and his team. Their next fixture, a trip to Aston Villa, is unlikely to be an easy one, and the players will need to respond as champions would.
Following the match, Grealish felt that Arsenal were the better team, stating that he didn’t think City played well. “I think Arsenal played a lot better than us,” he said. “They had a few chances – I don’t know if it was a penalty, I haven’t really seen it back yet.”
Despite his assessment, Grealish acknowledged the importance of grinding out victories in tough fixtures like this one, saying, “If you win titles, you’ve got to come to grounds like this. Even when you’re not at your best, you’ve got to win games.”
The Arsenal players’ mentality will undoubtedly come under scrutiny in the wake of this defeat, as they were unable to convert their chances despite dominating for significant portions of the match.
Nonetheless, City’s ability to grind out results in difficult games once again demonstrated their title-winning credentials.