Sometimes you want to kill him! Guardiola marvels at City cult hero Mendy
Mendy set up Bernardo Silva's game-clinching second in north London after Raheem Sterling gave the champions an early lead.
A cruciate knee ligament injury meant the France left-back had a minimal impact on the field during his first season in Manchester but his inimitable work on social media established him as a cult hero with City's fans.
It is a status that has not gone unnoticed by Guardiola, who observed the 24-year-old popping up all over Emirates Stadium on Sunday.
At a post-match news conference, when it was put to Guardiola that Mendy sometimes appeared to be more like a centre forward, he chuckled: "Yeah, and that is not good!
Good victory to start the season everything not perfect but I need to find the feet the rythm again (says the guy with 2 assists) thank you guys for the love #CMONCITY pic.twitter.com/SInRAixngD
— Benjamin Mendy (@benmendy23) August 12, 2018
"Mendy is Mendy. Sometimes you want to kill him and sometimes you say, 'wow, what a player we have'.
"He gives us this extra energy. With Kyle [Walker] and him, when they attack so consistently it is so important.
"But Mendy has a lot of things to improve. Hopefully we can convince him to be calm, to forget a little bit the social media and focus on what he has to do."
When City tweeted the quotes from their manager, Mendy was quickly contrite – replying "Oops" and, "I promise I will".
Oops https://t.co/dVBYJNbKPM
— Benjamin Mendy (@benmendy23) August 12, 2018