Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has stated that his side played with courage, as he marked his 100th game in charge of The Citizens with a 3-0 win over Arsenal.

Important to maintain that gap

City headed into another clash with the Gunners on cloud nine having got his first English trophy under his belt with the Carabao Cup win over Arsène Wenger's men, and it was no different in the Premier League as they looked to extend their lead at the top with the trip to The Emirates Stadium.

It was a stellar first-half performance from the visitors with goals from Bernardo & David Silva and Leroy Sané sent Arsenal for six, despite not going any further in the second 45 minutes they did enough to open up a 16-point gap and Guardiola was full of praise for his corageous side.

"We scored three amazing goals, nice goals," Guardiola said in his post-match press conference. "But the last 10-15 minutes of the first half and start of the second half was really poor."

"It was a tough game in front of their own fans, who were quiet," the Catalan stated. "When you have lots of points you can always relax and we did the opposite. We played with courage."

"It's important to maintain the 16 points in front," the coach reiterated. "We need five more games to be champions."

"It's never easy, when you win the title, you think you can relax or not be focused but we were," Guardiola added. "So far, we've had an amazing Premier League season."

First time he's been back and played quality

Not for the first time this season Sané was the star performer, as his man-of-the-match performance saw him play a significant part in the first two goals before putting in the third.

It will be miraculous to many to see the German back so soon considering he was expected to be out for several weeks following ligament damage at the end of January, but he made a swift return and Guardiola was full of praise for the 22-year-old.

"He's had a top, top season after having a problem against Cardiff with Joe Bennett," he said on the German's return. "He's come back and has given huge effort as his still not good in his ankle."

"He came to me and said he wanted to help - he was ready," the coach proclaimed. "In the first game he came back he wasn't top, but today was the first time he's been back and played quality."

"The first goal was a brilliant action and he scored the third," Guardiola concluded. "He played a really good game."