Pep Guardiola has surprisingly positive reaction after Man City draw at Sunderland despite falling four points behind Arsenal in Premier League title race

"Good" was Guardiola's first response when asked by Sky Sports how he assessed the goalless draw. City, who snatched a 2-1 win in their last game at Nottingham Forest thanks to Rayan Cherki's late strike, struggled to create chances in the first half at the Stadium of Light beyond Bernardo Silva's early disallowed goal. 

They improved after the break and Savinho missed two chances in quick succession before going off injured. Phil Foden had a shot cleared off the line as City cranked up the pressure while Tijjani Reijnders squandered an opportunity inside the box deep in added time. 

Although Guardiola lamented his side's inability to convert their many opportunities, he was still positive about their performance.

Guardiola told Sky Sports: "Good. Take the point. Second half was excellent. We could not score in the six-yard box. How many times were we  in the six-yard box against the keeper or the other one and could not convert? Of course, the threat they have, they are really good. Really pleased with the performances, especially in the second half.

"We created a lot against that team in this stadium, especially in the second half. The first half, we struggled simply because we struggled against their pressing but Rodri gave us the second pass to break the lines, and we could run. Second half was much better. They are so physical. They're so strong, so it's not a surprise. We take the point. There's a long way [to go until the end of the season]. The result is always what it is."

City captain Bernardo Silva was more downbeat than his coach, admitting his side were disappointed not to win. He said: "Two different halves. In the first half we didn't play that well. We didn't control the counter as well as we should. 

"We attacked a bit too quick - we didn't move them to find spaces. Second half we had a lot more chances and today was one of those days we couldn't finish them. We are not happy because we wanted better than this."

City have less than 72 hours to prepare for their next game at home to Chelsea on Sunday. The match was due to be another reunion between Guardiola and his former assistant coach Enzo Maresca but the Italian was sacked by the Blues on Thursday. According to reports, Chelsea were less than impressed when Maresca informed them that he had held talks with City about replacing Guardiola in the event that the Catalan steps down after 10 years at the club at the end of this season.

City are likely to be without Gonzalez, who was taken off at half-time after needing treatment earlier in the first half. Savinho also had to be taken off early into the second period and Guardiola admitted in his press conference that the Brazilian's injury "does not look good".

The coach admitted that the players were disappointed with the result but he urged them to stay positive and get back to winning ways against Chelsea. He added: "We didn't do what we talked about in the first half but in general it was a really good game. It was better second half, the guys did everything. They are a bit heads down but we have to be heads up because in three days we have a difficult game against Chelsea.

"We created enough chances, we played good second half. The commitment, the desire, the first half was different. We created enough - the two chances from Savinho in the second half, Jeremy [Doku], Josko [Gvardiol], Phil [Foden] and Erling [Haaland]. We had a lot but unfortunately we could not do it."