Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola praised his Arsenal counterpart after beating them in the Premier League on Sunday.
Guardiola and his former assistant Mikel Arteta were reunited at the Emirates as City beat them 1-0.
Raheem Sterling scored for the visitors after just two minutes and the victory is their 18th consecutive win in all competitions.
Speaking to Sky Sports at full-time Guardiola said it wasn't an easy afternoon and they had to work for the three points.
“It was hard like we expected it would be. We suffered a lot. It’s difficult to play against Arsenal and Mikel [Arteta], that’s why I give the players incredible credit for this victory.
“Mikel knows everything. He’s so good. It’s not because he’s my friend. He’s so clever. I learn a lot watching his teams. Today I learned something that I can use in the future. He knows everything about football."
City are now 10 points clear at the top of the Premier League table and it looks like they'll comfortably regain the title.
At times during the game at the Emirates, they didn't even seem to be playing in second gear and their sense of control with a 1-0 lead is remarkable.
Guardiola though was keen to point out it's not the standard of teams they're facing that's making this run look so good for them but rather his players.
“People look at our run of wins and think it’s so easy. I didn’t expect it. I’m more than grateful for these players for what they’re doing, but winning these games 1-0 is what we need to do.
“The last 10-15 minutes was brilliant. We didn’t push the action, the action came through the passes and movements in the right tempo.
“At half-time we adjusted our pressing and won a lot of balls. In the first half we could not. The second half was better. We didn’t create chances but enough to win the game.”
“We now have four games in a row in the Premier League. We know what we want to do and we want to make a big step.”
