David Silva scored the only goal of the contest in the second half as City regained top spot, having briefly relinquished it earlier in the day as a result of Manchester United's 2-0 win at QPR. Belgian defender Kompany said: "It was massive for us, we didn't underestimate the importance of this game and we're happy with the result and to keep a clean sheet. "We've been going for a lot of goals and could have scored many but we didn't finish the chances we had today, although individually we won most of our challenges." Goalkeeper Joe Hart added on Sky Sports One: "We put pressure on ourselves. Manchester United are brilliant but we knew we had a job to do this afternoon and that if we won we're back where we want to be." England international Hart was only looking forward after City's recent setbacks, adding: "The Champions League and Chelsea (defeat) have gone. "You've got to pick yourselves up and move on and we have done." Gunners boss Arsene Wenger said: "We feel we had the chances to score and to come out of this game losing after such a good run is always difficult to take. "The game was interesting and very intense physically but we can take some encouragement from the quality of the performance we produced. "Our belief has to be intact because to lose a game like that today is frustrating for the players - but they showed outstanding spirit and quality. It's a basis to build on and go again." An early injury to Johan Djourou increased the Gunners' defensive worries, with Wenger adding on Sky Sports One: "At the moment we are short on the flanks and everyone who is injured at the back is detrimental to our performance. "I feel (Laurent) Koscielny, (Johan) Djourou and (Thomas) Vermaelen did remarkably well - but they are all centre-backs." Asked about the significance of three points today, City boss Roberto Mancini told Sky Sports News: "It was very important after Chelsea - we didn't deserve to lose that game. "Today was a fantastic game for the supporters. It was open until the end and I think we deserved to win. "They (Arsenal) are playing very, very well...when you are playing against Arsenal, who have Robin Van Persie, Gervinho and (Theo) Walcott up front, you can concede a goal anytime. "I think today we showed we wanted to win this game, after Chelsea and go on top again - but we know the season is long. "Maybe we will be in second position at some stage during the year - but if we work hard we can stay top. "It was a big test for our character and I think we showed we are a strong team...we know we shall fight with United and Tottenham and the other teams who are very strong." Asked what he said to his players post-match, the Italian added: "Congratulations - but I said that after we scored the first goal we should have had more control of the game. We wanted to attack, attack, attack and we left three or four counter-attacks for Arsenal."
