Pep Guardiola believes his decision to change his "horrible" first-half tactics was the key to Manchester City's crucial 3-1 victory over Arsenal.
City headed into Wednesday's vital clash at the Emirates Stadium three points behind Premier League leaders Arsenal, but Kevin De Bruyne struck to give City the lead after 24 minutes.
Although Bukayo Saka levelled from the spot, Jack Grealish and Erling Haaland scored second-half goals to earn three points for City and put them top on goal difference.
Arsenal had seven first-half shots to City's four, and a much-improved display was required from the champions after the interval to hold the Gunners to no shots on target in the second period.
Guardiola, who has now won eight of his nine matches against Mikel Arteta's Arsenal after having him on his coaching staff at City between 2016 and 2019, pointed to a change in tactics at the break as the key reason for his team's excellent second-half performance.
"The first half they were much better than us," Guardiola told Amazon Prime. "The second we were much, much better.
"We were not playing, we were defending because they were so good. In the first half, my tactics, I tried something new and it was horrible.
"We adjusted in the second half and we were more aggressive towards [Martin] Odegaard and controlled more of the ball. Erling used his power to keep the ball.
"We suffered in the first half, but in the second we were there, we were more aggressive, winning duels, and when that happens we are a better team. We are built to go as a crazy team."
When asked why he felt City were better in the second half, Haaland also noted Guardiola's half-time changes, explaining: "[There were] small adjustments in half-time from Pep.
"In the end, we have good quality players and we have to get it out of every player and we did today.
"We have to play a little bit more like this sometimes and that is what we did today."
Despite City leapfrogging Arsenal to the Premier League summit, the Gunners hold a game in hand as they look to lift a first title since the 2003-04 'Invincibles' season.
Guardiola knows the title race is far from over, saying: "Now we are top of the league, but they have one game in hand. We have a lot of games to play.
"Arsenal will be back. In three days we have another one. [There are] still many, many games to play for everyone, and we are not an exception."
Man United could be without Toone until new year, says Skinner
Marc Skinner revealed that Manchester United could be without midfielder Ella Toone until the new year after she picked up a calf injury in training.
Toone has featured in five games in the Women's Super League this season, but is yet to register a goal or an assist so far this term.
The 25-year-old has missed United's last two games and was not selected in Sarina Wiegman's England squad for their upcoming friendlies against the United States and Switzerland.
She had previously appeared in a staggering 96 straight matches before missing United's WSL showdown with Leicester City last weekend.
But ahead of the Red Devils' meeting with league leaders Chelsea on Sunday, Skinner confirmed they would be without Toone for not only that game, but for the foreseeable future.
"We have three games [after the international break and before Christmas]. There's always the hope, but I think you balance and you go, 'right, if we can get her back, we get her back'," Skinner said.
"But we're just not going to rush her in this moment because it's a calf injury, it's your running mechanism. If we injure the running mechanism, it takes longer.
"So ideally we'd like her back for those games afterwards.
"The projection is she misses this game [Chelsea], she misses the international window, probably misses the first game after that, and then we'll see from there.
"But because it is such a short block of only three games, we'll assess whether it's worth that or actually resetting to come back after Christmas."
Haaland has 'full trust' in Guardiola to halt Man City slump
Erling Haaland has "full trust" in the "best manager in the world", Pep Guardiola, to get Manchester City back on track against Tottenham in the Premier League on Saturday.
Guardiola's side have lost four matches in a row across all competitions, which is the Spaniard's longest losing run in his entire managerial career.
The Citizens last lost more consecutively between March and April 2006 under Stuart Pearce (six – the fifth game of which was also against Tottenham).
But after putting pen to paper on a new two-year contract extension at the club earlier this week, Guardiola has his eyes firmly set on returning to winning ways on home soil.
And Haaland, who has scored 105 goals in 114 appearances under Guardiola at City, believes they can make up the gap to leaders Liverpool, who are five points ahead.
"When you look at what he's been doing for the club, he's not bad, is he? So he's got my full trust," Haaland told Sky Sports.
"And if he tells me something, I'd better do it because he knows the best in the end. Everyone knows that. So I'm sure he will find solutions now as well. I'm sure of that.
"[Guardiola] demands us to be at our best in every training session, in every game. And that's what we need to do. It hasn't been good enough, losing four games now, but let's try to win the next."
Al-Nassr 1-2 Al-Qadsiah: Aubameyang winner ends hosts' unbeaten run
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang hit the winner as Al-Qadsiah inflicted a 2-1 defeat on Al-Nassr in the Saudi Pro League on Friday to end their 21-match unbeaten run.
Cristiano Ronaldo's seventh league goal of the season put Al-Nassr ahead, but Al-Qadsiah replied swiftly through Julian Quinones before Aubameyang struck the decisive blow.
The hosts drew first blood in the 32nd minute when Ronaldo slotted home after Al-Qadsiah goalkeeper Koen Casteels had spilled a routine catch from Talisca's cross.
However, Al-Nassr's joy was short-lived when Quinones brought down Turki Al Ammar's delivery five minutes later, with the Mexcio winger firing past Bento to level the scores.
Quinones also played a part in the winning goal after brilliantly turning the ball back across goal from Nahitan Nandez's search pass to tee up a simple finish for Aubameyang.
The result sees Al-Qadsiah move level on 22 points with third-placed Al-Nassr, with Al-Shabab also level with them.
Stefano Pioli's Al-Nassr are six points adrift of defending champions and leaders Al-Hilal, who also have a game in hand.
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