The victory, which was Guardiola’s 100th Premier League win, will not go down as a classic but the Spaniard was happy with how his side performed against a tough opponent less than 48 hours after the late defeat at Wolves.
United, beaten away from home for the first time since January, were left to grumble about VAR after Lys Mousset’s strike was chalked off for a tight offside before referee Chris Kavanagh got in the way in the build up to Sergio Aguero’s opener, and they were arguably the better side in the first half.
City’s class eventually told, with Kevin De Bruyne setting up Aguero before settling the match for good inside the last 10 minutes, but this was rarely comfortable for Guardiola’s side.
“Today I realised – I already knew it but when you experience it yourself it’s better – why Sheffield (United) are in the position they are in and didn’t lose one game away,” said Guardiola.
“It was an incredibly tough game because we played after less than 48 hours one of the most physical teams in the Premier League and we won it so a big compliment for the team again.”