How Man City’s victory against Arsenal evidenced Pep Guardiola’s changing of the guard

After a season of transition, City have offered reassurances in attack and defence

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The first sign of the changing of the guard came an hour or so before kick-off. Maybe, in such strange times, the captains no longer convene with the officials in the referee’s room so there, on the pitch with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Chris Kavanagh, was Raheem Sterling.

It used to be Vincent Kompany’s armband and then it was David Silva’s, but now the statues have been commissioned for Manchester City’s last two club captains. The new – and, born the year before his two predecessors, old – leader, Fernandinho, has not started since being hauled off against Leicester, even though City fell apart then and conceded four goals without him. His designated deputy, Kevin de Bruyne, was injured.

The presumption was that Sergio Aguero was next in line but Sterling has leapfrogged him; in more ways than one, given that he outscored him last season. “Our best striker now,” said Guardiola which, given Aguero is the best striker in City’s history, felt remarkable. The question of when the Argentinian is consigned to City’s history has a growing pertinence. His contract expires next summer and Guardiola suggested his summer knee injury meant talks were postponed.

“Now he has to show like every one of us, me first, that we deserve to continue here,” said the manager. “After that the club and myself will decide.” If that sounded ominous, Guardiola has suggested he has to earn the right to remain as well and, in any case, he added a caveat. “About his quality.... when he is playing in his level and we don't have any doubts he is a player to stay until he decides [to go] because he is unique.” But the sentimental homecoming to Independiente could beckon for a player who turns 33 in June.

And yet Aguero has shown more staying power than some predicated, and not merely to outlast peers like Kompany, Silva, Pablo Zabaleta and Joe Hart. “Having Aguero on the pitch, we are better, we are safer,” Guardiola said. “We missed him a lot in important moments in the later part of the [last] season.” That, in itself, indicates a shift in thinking. Monday marks the fourth anniversary of the day Guardiola benched Aguero to play De Bruyne as a false nine at the Nou Camp and lost 4-0. If Gabriel Jesus, who joined three months later, has seemed the successor in waiting for much of the subsequent period, perhaps Sterling, the better finisher with the more ruthless streak and the exponential improvement, is actually his true heir. Since the start of the 2017-18 season, he is only two goals behind Aguero – 85-83 – even if the younger man closed the gap in part because of his senior strike partner’s part in the decider as they dovetailed well against Arsenal.  

If there is an art to replacing pivotal players before they are gone, there is a cost to not doing so when they depart. Last season amounted to an interregnum at the back, Kompany’s departure being compounded by Aymeric Laporte’s absence. Injury sidelined the Frenchman again on Saturday but there were signs that the £65m City spent on Ruben Dias has bought a defender with some of the same attributes as the much-mourned Belgian.

While flanked by Kyle Walker and Nathan Ake, there were times when they were so distant that it felt Dias was the sole centre-back. He nonetheless cut an authoritative figure; he was sufficiently ruthless to chop down Bukayo Saka in full flight, much as a predecessor might have done.

“It will be a big mistake to compare him with Vincent,” Guardiola insisted. “Vincent is unique.” And yet, as Guardiola noted: “I think he is a type of leader. He will lead the pressure.” There was a void at the heart of the defence at times last season. Dias at least looks a presence and Guardiola, who has a decidedly mixed record when purchasing defenders, felt his summer recruitment drive might eliminate the errors that undermined City last season.

“Both guys, Nathan and Ruben, don’t make mistakes today,” he said. “We suffer a lot last season from mistakes. I have the feeling they are real defenders.” So was Kompany, but if City have spent years confronting the question of who follows their greatest generation, perhaps defeating Arsenal, with a clinical finish and a clean sheet, offered some reassurance at either end of the pitch.