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Pep Guardiola snaps as 'lucky Arsenal' make early Premier League title race statement

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola
-Credit: (Image: Alex Pantling - UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images)


Arsenal were in-part beneficiaries of a successful day of Premier League football on Saturday as victory against Leicester helped to tighten the gap between rivals gunning for the title at this early stage.

Witnessing Manchester City take the early kick-off slot can be a mood-defining prospect for the weekend ahead. On the one hand they win and all the Gunners can play for is the chance to keep pace, or they uncharacteristically drop points and allow their competitors a way back.

Thankfully for Mikel Arteta and his players, it was the latter, and their own hard-fought triumph against Leicester later on in the afternoon mean the two rivals sit equal on points after six matches. The only dampener was that Liverpool managed to claim victory themselves at Wolves, so lead the table by a single point.

The task therefore continues to be to put in effort now that will ultimately be rewarded come next May. So, with that being said, football.london has rounded up the latest Arsenal news on Sunday morning...

Guardiola snaps at continued Rodri questioning

The media were quick to draw the link between Man City ceding ground and the absence of Rodri, who last year had accumulated a personal 74-game unbeaten streak with Arsenal's rivals.

"We played really good with Kova [Mateo Kovacic], Bernardo [Silva] and Rico [Lewis]," Pep Guardiola responded after drawing his breath. As per BBC Sport, four of the first seven questions put to the City manager were about the Spanish midfielder and the fact he is out for the season, until he finally caved.

READ MORE: Every word Mikel Arteta said on Trossard winner, Nwaneri cameo and Pep Guardiola comments

READ MORE: Arsenal vs Leicester prompts major Premier League title race change after Man City blow

"I know you are going to ask me all the time. We are going to miss Rodri for his physicality and presence, but he is not there," he snapped.

"I would love Rodri, Oscar Bobb, Kevin [de Bruyne] and [Nathan] Ake to be here. But it is what it is. Sometimes it happens and we have to adapt."

football.london says: Agreeing with Guardiola, Man City quite clearly do possess the quality to carry on without Rodri and do very well this season. Will it be well enough though? That is the multimillion-pound question. They looked disjointed in their tough test up at Newcastle on Saturday, and although every game won't quite be so physical this should provide confidence for opponents who will seek to win the midfield battle or even just pose a threat from set pieces. All Arsenal can do is carry on winning and hope a gap opens up.

Keown liking 'lucky Arsenal'

Watching on whilst on punditry duty for BBC Sport, Gunners legend Martin Keown was particularly impressed with two aspects of his former team's game against Leicester.

The first was Leandro Trossard, who having served his suspension in the club's midweek Carabao Cup for being sent off against Man City last Sunday, was eligible to play again. He started, netted the second goal and looked to have claimed the third as well, only for it to be put down as an own goal in Wilfred Ndidi's name.

"What a buy Leandro Trossard was! Worth every penny," Keown responded. "A perfect day if it finishes like this."

After that, he gave Arteta's side a fresh tag, saying: "Arsenal score from a set-piece – who’d believe it? Arsenal just kept believing. It is a lucky goal and ‘lucky Arsenal’ is a nice tag to have."

football.london says: Lucky might not be the exact appropriate word this weekend as victory on Saturday was thoroughly deserved for the pressure put on the Foxes over the course of 90 minutes. Maybe more so last Sunday, some luck would have been nice then but that said, we see where Keown is going with this and the Gunners will certainly require their fair share of luck if they are to finally pip a team - who seem to finish top no matter what happens - to the trophy.