Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has stated that his side "won in the best way" and "deserved" Sunday's 3-1 victory over Arsenal, despite Gunners manager Arsène Wenger's criticism of some of referee Michael Oliver's decisions during the clash at the Etihad Stadium.
We won in the best way
Guardiola's side headed into this clash the outstanding favourites considering their excellent start to the campaign on all fronts, it certainly wasn't their most dominant performance by any stretch of the imagination but did enough on the day to stretch their lead at the top of the Premier League to eight points over bitter rivals Manchester United.
City scored their 50th goal of the campaign 19 minutes in through Kevin De Bruyne before their new all-time top goalscorer Sergio Agüero added a second from the spot just after the restart, substitute Alexandre Lacazette got one back before fellow sub Gabriel Jesus rounded off the win in the 75th minute.
It can be fair to say that City's final two goals of the afternoon with Raheem Sterling at first glance seemingly going down softly under the challenge Nacho Monreal and skipper David Silva clearly offside in the build-up for Jesus' effort, Wenger made his thoughts on both Sterling's integrity and Oliver's refereeing capabilities post-match but Guardiola fired back stating that his side "deserved" the three points.
"No, we won, we won in the best way," Guardiola told his post-match press conference. "And we deserved by far the victory."
"For the way we played and the chances we create," the coach stated. "And the few chances we concede."
"They told me it was offside," he said in reference to Jesus' goal. "I don't like to win in that way, so it's like this."
"But sometimes Arsenal win at Burnley in the 96th minute with a hand," the 46-year-old proclaimed. "Sometimes it's like this."
"The important thing is the performance," Guardiola added. "The way we tried to play, and we did it really well."
Until we win something, we can't be compared
The defeat of Arsenal was just another stop in what has been an unstoppable season thus far for City, with the victory over Wenger's men being their 15th consecutive victory and continued their excellent unbeaten run across all competitions.
Many are already stating that the Premier League title will be back at the Etihad come May, the same people have also been comparing this City side to that of Guardiola's Barcelona and Bayern Munich sides which had unprecedented success.
Guardiola amassed a staggering 21 trophies during his spells with the two European giants but ended up empty-handed for the first time in his managerial career during his first season in the North West, and the Catalan-born boss stated that his City side can't be compared until they are able to "lift something".
"We cannot deny the last two months have been amazing," he said. "We won all the games, to do it in two months is so, so difficult."
"So I am so happy. But in the past Barcelona, Bayern Munich, they won titles, we didn't win once," the coach admitted to City's lack of silverware under his watch. "So until we are able to lift something, we cannot talk about that."
"But the way we play we cannot deny that in the last two months we play good," Guardiola concluded. "A lot of goals, today again three goals, and how many chances we create."