Spaniard Pep Guardiola, coach of Manchester City, confirmed that his team deserved to draw with Arsenal during the two teams' summit in the English Premier League.

Manchester City escaped defeat by drawing 2-2 with its guest Arsenal at the Etihad Stadium in the fifth round of the Premier League on Sunday evening.

The most prominent moment in the match came when Arsenal scored the equalizer 1-1 in the first half, which was scored by Italian Riccardo Calafiore, after the referee asked to speak with the captains of the two teams.

Referee Michael Oliver summoned Manchester City captain Kyle Walker from his team's back lines for a conversation, and allowed play to resume before City's right-back could return to his position, allowing Arsenal to score, which sparked the anger of the "Citizens" players.

Guardiola said in his statements after the match about this shot: “The referee asked our captain to speak to him, and then the Arsenal players played the ball and scored the first goal.”

He added: "When that happens, some players have to be close to the ball, and we have to reset the back four, but they didn't have time."

He continued: “Kyle got into this position, and after that Calafiore scored a great goal, but we knew that every free kick they send to the wings quickly, and they are really good with Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli, and I don’t like the back four when there is a mistake and they move.” ".

The Spanish coach confirmed that he would change his team’s approach to the referees after that, explaining: “Next time, when a referee says to the players, ‘Come and talk to me,’ I will tell the players, ‘Don’t go.. The referees must come to us.’”

Guardiola concluded his statements by saying: “We still have this passion within ourselves to win the English Premier League. There are still 99 points remaining, and many things happened, and in the end we achieved a draw because we deserve it.”