Pep Guardiola change to Man City team bus set tone for Arsenal

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From the team bus to the ballboys, Pep Guardiola ensured that Manchester City sent the message he wanted to against Arsenal

A good while after Pep Guardiola and his Manchester City players had completed their lap of appreciation and around the Etihad and gone back to the dressing room, two blocks of fans remained. Either side of the empty section that had housed the Arsenal supporters, Blues sang the new song featuring Rayan Cherki and Antoine Semenyo back at each other as they eked out more seconds on what had been a hell of an afternoon.

City fans arrived giddy for the prospect of laying another serious blow on Arsenal and when they finally did leave there was joy that their victory could even lead to more silverware in the coming weeks. Winning the title looked like a lost dream as recently as a month ago.

That perhaps explained the wild scenes from the players as well, in addition to recognising the battle that they had been through against an Arsenal side that had produced their best performance at the Etihad under Mikel Arteta and a marked improvement on the last few months. Gianluigi Donnarumma, whose error gifted the Gunners an equaliser, jumped into the crowd at full-time after redeeming himself with a strong second half.

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Before he could manage that, there was a bearhug from one of Pep Guardiola's key lieutenants and then one of the goalkeeping coaches was waiting to embrace the Italian before he went off down the tunnel. What could have broken City on the day actually brought them closer together.

That tone had been set by Guardiola hours before Anthony Taylor had blown the whistle to get the game going. As hundreds of fans greeted the arrival of the team bus, they saw not just the matchday squad getting off but 24 players in total announced to the crowd as they made their way inside.

It is common to have an extra goalkeeper on top of the 20 and occasionally another player will be there, but to have four extra involved is rare. Marcus Bettinelli, Max Alleyne, Rico Lewis, and Mateo Kovacic all strolled off the bus knowing that they would not play any minutes in the game.

Making the group bigger than ever helped the team live up to their biggest game of the season though, and at least one of those four will likely be involved at Turf Moor on Wednesday with Rodri suffering a groin injury. Guardiola made clear after the Arsenal win that he cannot rely on the same XI for every game in the run-in.

City have never looked stronger this season and are eight games away from adding the Premier League and FA Cup trophies to the Carabao Cup they have already won. And they are doing it with a united squad, with the manager and staff making sure everyone feels included; even the ball boys were charged up, with multiple balls thrown onto the pitch at multiple moments in the game as a result of their enthusiasm.

It struck the right note on Sunday, and sets City up for what could be a momentous end to another season.