Arsenal have joined an exclusive club of teams to achieve a defensive feat against a side managed by Pep Guardiola.
The Gunners achieved the feat following their goalless draw at the Etihad versus Manchester City on Sunday afternoon, when the two sides faced off in a potential title-decider.
Despite the array of attacking talent in each side, both the Citizens and the visiting Gunners were able to breach the net of David Raya and Stefan Ortega respectively.
The treble-winning hosts had the majority of the ball but could not fashion clear-cut chances with their usual ease, with Erling Haaland cutting a frustrated figure at points.
Following Liverpool's 2-1 success over Roberto De Zerbi's Brighton & Hove Albion earlier on Easter Sunday, Jurgen Klopp's Reds are now at the summit of the Premier League standings with nine matches left to play.
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Arsenal's defence gets the better of Guardiola
With Brentford loanee Raya keeping a clean sheet on the blue side of Manchester, Arsenal are only the fourth team to achieve a defensive feat against an outfit under the stewardship of Guardiola.
The Gunners have now not conceded a goal in two league matches in the same season against a Guardiola side after October's success in the reverse fixture at the Emirates.
Coming on as a substitute in the second period, Brazil international Gabriel Martinelli sent the North London faithful into raptures with an 86th-minute winner earlier in the campaign.
Two other Premier League sides have managed to keep Guardiola's Man City quiet in front of net in two league meetings in the same campaign: Manchester United in 2020-21 and Crystal Palace in 2021-22.
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Ole Gunnar Solskjaer outsmarts Guardiola
During their 2020-21 Premier League, Man United managed to keep back-to-back clean sheets and collect four points from a pair of fixtures against their local rivals.
In December 2020, the Red Devils and the Citizens played out a rather grab goalless draw at the Theatre of Dreams, where Guardiola's men managed just two shots on target.
Three months' later and Solskjaer took his troops to the Etihad, where the visitors secured a 2-0 success courtesy of strikes from Bruno Fernandes and Luke Shaw.
The Norwegian also masterminded another memorable victory over Guardiola in January 2020, when a first-half goal from Nemanja Matic knocked Man City out of the EFL Cup.
Carter White
