Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola was happy enough with his side’s win at Arsenal despite them not hitting the heights of last season in the first outing.
City went in just 1-0 up at half time but should have bene out of sight after dominating the Gunners in Unai Emery’s first game in charge.
Raheem Sterling gave the champions the lead and Bernardo Silva sealed the points in the second half just as City looked like running out of steam and ideas.
"Our performance was good. We made mistakes, but in general I'm more than satisfied,” said Guardiola.
"We played at a high level, counting the lack of conditioning for many players who arrived late.
"The first part of the second half we found a goal and maybe didn't deserve it - but in the first half we deserved to score two or three goals more."
Sterling out to silence critics
Sterling was delighted to get off the mark in the first game of the season as he looked to answer a few critics who reared up as he failed to score for England in the World Cup.
"I'm happy to contribute today,” he told Sky Sports.
"There's been a lot of talking...it's just one of those things I get judged on. I've got to keep improving and getting more goals.
"We've just got to focus on ourselves. It was a massive game today, we've got to get them out of the way one by one and get our three points."
Emery frustrated at first defeat
Gunners boss Unai Emery was frustrated to lose his first game since succeeding Arsene Wenger, with his side being largely outplayed but having some good second half opportunities.
A much-changed side improved in the second half after a poor first 45 minutes, but they failed to take their chances when they came up.
"We are a new team who have to improve and for me today there is frustration to lose,” said Emery.
"But we continued pressing and our first match is maybe also a little more difficult than our season is this year."
"Second half. We had chances also. First half. We need to believe more."
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