Kyle Walker saw the funny side of the Arsenal fans who mistakenly thought they were hindering Manchester City’s preparations for their trip to Tottenham.
A group of Gunners fans were filmed letting off some fireworks outside a hotel where the City players were due to be staying the night before their crucial title race clash against Tottenham.
However, their cunning plan hit the biggest of stumbling blocks when it emerged City hadn’t travelled to London until Tuesday.
City did what they had to do with two goals from Erling Haaland sealing a 2-0 victory for Pep Guardiola’s side at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
The result sees City leapfrog Arsenal at the top of the Premier League, meaning they’re in the driving seat going into the final day.
And Walker is delighted by City’s ability to handle the pressure thus far and couldn’t resist a cheeky dig at the blunder from the Arsenal fans.
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“If I didn’t enjoy the pressure I’d be in the wrong job and definitely the wrong team. These are the games you want to play in,” Walker told Sky Sports.
“As a footballer, the feeling I got when we scored to go 2-0 up, you don’t experience that too often.
“It’s the emotion of it… last night I couldn’t sleep. I struggled to sleep and we get to the hotel today – I’ve heard they’ve tried to set fireworks off the night before but we weren’t there, they’ve missed us!
“They’ve missed us… but listen, it’s things like that where you’re trying to get off and I’m trying to scramble off in the afternoon just to get my head down.
“These are the games you want to play in, the things you want to compete for and luckily over my seven years at the club I’ve been competing for definitely six of them.”
City looked like they were buckling under pressure as the two sides went in at half time at 0-0 with the title-chasers struggling to create many meaningful opportunities.
That all changed after the break with Haaland tapping into an empty net on 51 minutes after being picked out by a low cross from Kevin De Bruyne on the right.
Spurs had a massive chance to level the scores late on when Son Heung-min was put through on goal, but his low strike was kept out expertly by City’s substitute goalkeeper Stefan Ortega.
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Both north London sides were made to rue that missed chance as Haaland scored a penalty in stoppage-time to give City the three points.
The result means City just need to equal Arsenal’s score on Sunday with City facing West Ham at the Etihad Stadium, while Mikel Arteta’s men entertain Everton.
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