Unai Emery: Manchester City Showed 'Superiority' over Arsenal in 3-1 Win

Arsenal manager Unai Emery said Manchester City showed their "superiority" over Arsenal in their 3-1 win over the Gunners on Sunday.

Arsenal's wait for an away win against a fellow top-six Premier League side—which last came in 2015—continues after Sergio Aguero bagged a hat-trick at the Etihad Stadium.

Per Football.London's James Benge, he said:

"They showed their superiority today. Two different times in the first half we struggled but together, defensively, being strong in some moments and keeping the result like we can have an option.

"All the small details we need to work well and not concede [weren’t there]. The first half we can be with some optimism to do something different in the second half.

"It was different. We opened the match more than the first half. They showed today with the possession against us, getting our defence position very deep, they can win like in the first half. The result is the difference between us."

Asked if Arsenal have a weak mentality when they play away from home, Emery added:

"The mentality is the same. When players are better they feel that. Our players have the mentality. When we are worse than the opposition we feel that. There’s good things with some players. We have players with good possibilities."

Benge was unimpressed with the Spaniard's answers:

The Gunners were behind after just 48 seconds when Aguero headed home Aymeric Laporte's cross.

Laurent Koscielny restored some hope when he replied 11 minutes later, but Raheem Sterling set up Aguero twice more in the 43rd and 60th minutes to hand City the win.

Arsenal failed to muster a single effort on goal in the second half in their vain attempt to get back into the contest.

Reuters' Simon Evans gave his take on Arsenal's struggles:

That City—who started the match nine points ahead—are better than Arsenal comes as no surprise, but supporters hoping to see them close the gap may not be best pleased by Emery's admission.

It will take time for the coach to undo years of decline under predecessor Arsene Wenger, though, and he'll also need more transfer windows for him to address the deficiencies in their squad, particularly at the back.

Arsenal's inability to beat their closest rivals on the road remains an issue in the meantime, and until they can pick up the occasional win in those matches they'll continue to struggle to keep up.