Man City will get better – Guardiola

Pep Guardiola has warned Manchester City’s Premier League rivals that his side will only “get better and better” as the season goes on.

Goals from Raheem Sterling and Bernardo Silva gave the Citizens a deserved 2-0 victory over Arsenal in their opening match on Sunday afternoon.

Guardiola believes that City produced the ‘perfect performance’ at the Emirates Stadium, despite not being at full strength due to the number of their players who arrived back late for training in a World Cup summer.

Asked if it was a perfect display from his side, the Catalan told BBC Sport: “Yes. We have a lot of players with a lack of condition but we are more than two seasons together and know what to do. We made a good performance in general and day by day we will get better and better.

“I am privileged to be manager of Manchester City. We try to do our best always.

Manchester City have given me a fantastic squad. I cannot complain for one minute.”

City are unbeaten in their last 10 opening Premier League fixtures, winning the last eight in a row.

Arsenal goalkeeper Petr Cech has put his side’s defeat to Manchester City down to a ‘lack of invention’ in the final third of the field.

The Gunners succumbed to a 2-0 loss at the Emirates Stadium in manager Unai Emery’s first match in charge, courtesy of goals from Raheem Sterling and Bernardo Silva either side of halftime.

City always looked the more likely to score with the game poised at 1-0, but Cech believes that a point was there for the taking if his teammates took more of a gamble early in the second half.

“We feel that we could have got something from the game,” he told BBC Sport. “In the second half, we forced them to make mistakes and we had some opportunities. Unfortunately, we lacked invention to find the killer pass.

“When you play against a team of City’s quality and confidence it is always going to be difficult. Inevitably, you can make a few mistakes. It was a shame we couldn’t finish off our counter-attacks and overall we’re disappointed with the defeat.”

Arsenal have just two victories in their last nine opening weekend Premier League games, drawing three and losing three.