Pep Guardiola believes his decision to change his horrible first-half tactics was the key to Manchester Citys crucial 3-1 victory over Arsenal.City headed into Wednesdays vital clash at the Emirates Stadium three points behind Premier League leaders Chris Hubbard Jersey 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 Citys 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 Artetas Arsenal after having him on his coaching staff at City between 2016 and 2019, pointed to a change in tactics Britton Colquitt Jersey at the break as the key reason for his teams 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, Greg Joseph Jersey I tried something new and it was horrible.We adjusted in the second half and we were more aggre sive 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 aggre sive, 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 Guardiolas half-time changes, explaining: There were small adjustments in half-time from Pep.In the end, Christian Kirksey Jersey 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 Terrance Mitchell Jersey , 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.