Mikel Arteta and Pep Guardiola both say each other’s team is ‘best in the world’ after dramatic 2-2 draw betwen Man City and Arsenal

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta kicked off his post-match Etihad press conference by returning Pep Guardiola’s compliment that Arsenal are one of the best teams in the world by saying ‘They are the best in the world.’

The latest instalment of this evolving rivalry between the Premier League’s top two teams was packed with incident.

Referee Michael Oliver drew diplomatic criticism from both bosses – Pep upset at the nature of Arsenal’s first goall and Arteta at the inconsistency of decisions culminating in a red card shown to his forward Leandro Trossard on the stroke of half-time.

Guardiola said: “Many, many things happened, they delayed the game, we behaved really well and still have this passion inside to fight the contender to steal our Premier League,.

“Still we are there. We started well, scored a fantastic goal and then conceded. We know that Arsenal are really quick with [Gabriel] Martinelli and [Bukayo] Saka.

“[Riccardo] Calafiori makes an exceptional goal, the second goal we didn’t defend well, give credit to them.”

“Ten against 11 is a different game. They defended so deep and we can cross but it’s not easy with Ben White, Gabriel, William Saliba. They defend really good.

“We were so smart to not make quick actions and not concede fouls. Long balls, crosses, don’t touch them. That is good because the game continues. We could have scored before, we scored at the end. It’s a good point for us.

“Congratulations to Arsenal for being so strong mentally to block for a long, long time. That’s not easy but we were patient.”

Arteta did his best to keep calm and try to look at the positives of so nearly coming away with all three points for the first time since 2015

He said: “We had a very difficult start. We struggled to control certain spaces we didn’t have enough ability to get out of the first 25, 30 metres of the pitch which meant that we never controlled the game.

“After that we understood what we had to do better and we came back in the game and were winning it. Then when we were at our best moment in the game we were given a context (the red card) that makes it almost impossible for 56 minutes.

“Anyway, we adapted to that context in the best possible way. The way the team competes is unbelievable. I’m so proud of them. You cannot be thrown in a more difficult situation against that kind of opponent. The way we handled that situation was unbelievable. I’m so proud of them.”

“I prefer not to comment (about Trossard’s red). I’ve seen it and it’s that obvious so I’ll leave it to you guys. I was already in big trouble trying to solve what happened on the pitch. It’s not my problem to solve what happens off the pitch.”