Pep Guardiola hails ‘special’ Man City star after Arsenal win but says his side were ‘soft’ in first half

Pep Guardiola has praised Bernardo Silva after Manchester City’s 3-1 Premier League win over Arsenal on Wednesday night. The victory at the Emirates saw the champions move top of the table, albeit Mikel Arteta’s side still have a game in hand.

Goals from Kevin De Bruyne, Jack Grealish and Erling Haaland ensured City won in North London, but it was Silva who Guardiola picked out for praise after the match. The Portugal international began the match at left-back, regularly pushed into midfield and also ended up at right wing in the latter stages.

Guardiola said after the game it’s that flexibility and intelligence that makes Silva such a valuable player for City. “It was for an extra man, we use it many times in our career here; Fabian Delph played in that position, Alex Zinchenko played in that position,” Guardiola said, when asked about the decision to start with Silva in defence.

“I just say thank you for the commitment to try to do it. But normally this extra man, normally you cannot use it against man-to-man, but Bernardo has something special in his personality, character. He started at left-back and finished on the right wing, it shows how good he is as a player.

“Normally the players say which position they play. ‘I am a centre-back’. No, he plays football. He understands playing in any position because he is so smart. He did it really well.”

Guardiola was delighted with the three points but felt his side weren’t dominant enough in the first half, which ended 1-1. Yet a much-improved second-half showing ensured the Blues grabbed a huge win at the top of the table.

“The first half they were better, we were not able to make the extra passes. We were soft; maybe my plan was not good. We allowed them to play comfortably,” he said.

“In the second half we were more aggressive. Bernardo jumped much better to [Martin] Odegaard and Ruben [Dias] jumped better and they could not have an extra man in midfield and that helped us to regain balls higher up the pitch, which is where we feel comfortable.

“Erling [Haaland] helped us a lot because being man-to-man against them, so aggressive, the only man free is the keeper and of course long balls against [William] Saliba and Gabriel is not easy. He used his power to win those balls, to make runs afterwards, and that’s why we won the game.”