Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini has heaped praise on Pablo Zabaleta after his impressive performance against Arsenal on Sunday.

The versatile Argentine played a key role as the Citizens beat Arsene Wenger's side 1-0 at the Etihad Stadium to return to the top of the Premier League.

Despite being in and out of the City lineup, Zabaleta has earned plaudits from his manager for his reliability and versatility.

"In a top team there are 11 players, but if we want to win and improve, we need to have 20 good players that have a good attitude," said Mancini.

"Pablo is a clever player. He knew before the game it would be difficult. I told him if he played very well against Theo Walcott we would probably win the game."

Zabaleta joined City from Espanyol in 2008 for an undisclosed fee, rumoured to be in the region of £5m.