Guardiola rushed in to help drag his goalkeeper away from an unsightly melee, with Sunderland captain Granit Xhaka also stepping between the feuding rivals. City’s head coach sought to play the incident down afterwards, telling reporters: “Football happens. Sometimes it happens as it is. [It was] Nothing important. Nobody is hurt, nothing happened.”
Guardiola went on to say of dropping two precious points: “Sunderland are really good, they are so strong, so physical. It’s a tough place to come. In the first half we struggled against their pressing. Then Rodri came on and broke their lines and the second half was excellent. I was very pleased with the performance but we could not convert our chances in the six-yard box. We just missed a finishing touch. It’s a mystery that we could not score.”
City are now four points adrift of leaders Arsenal and will face managerless Chelsea - who sacked Enzo Maresca on New Year’s Day - when returning to action at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday.