Arsenal goalkeeper Bernd Leno has insisted that Arsenal have closed the gap on Manchester City despite their weekend defeat at the Etihad.
City have now prevailed in the last seven meetings between the two sides in the Premier League, with Raheem Sterling netting the winner for Pep Guardiola's side against the Gunners on Saturday evening.
However, Leno believes that Arsenal produced a valiant performance against the Citizens irrespective of the scoreline, telling the official Arsenal website: "On one hand we're disappointed, but on the other we played a good game.
"We competed against City and at the end you can see that the gap was very small. I think when you compare the first game after the lockdown, how we played here and lost 3-0 without any chances and how we played today, there's a big, big difference.
"We're on the right way and today we lost this game, but next week we have to win and be confident in our play like this.
"I think we missed a little bit of the lucky punch. We tried at the end with set-pieces and crosses, but we couldn't finish the action.
"It was our only main problem in the end, because I think we were better in the second-half and controlled the game, but maybe a good chance was missing."
Mikel Arteta's side return to action on Thursday evening when they travel to Austria to take on Rapid Vienna in the Europa League.
Ben Knapton
