It was a proverbial 'game of two halves' as Manchester City sealed a narrow victory over the Gunners.
The first half saw Manchester City dominate possession, but Arsenal proved to be dangerous on the counter attack and looked to have much more quality when they did have the ball.
This was epitomised in just the fifth minute when Arsene Wenger's side turned defence into attack to take the lead. A cross from Man City's right was unable to find Raheem Sterling and Cech picked up the ball and threw out to Bellerin. The Spanish full-back drove forward and passed to Alexis Sanchez, who played the perfect pass for Theo Walcott as the England winger finished past Petr Cech.
City almost equalised immediately, but Sterling headed wide from close range at the back post after he met a cross from the left wing.
Guardiola's side huffed and puffed, but failed to do much with their possession and Arsenal saw chances fall to Walcott and Granit Xhaka, but to no avail.
Arsenal deservedly went in ahead at the break, but City came out strongly and produced a dominant second half display.
Less than two minutes after the restart and Leroy Sane had levelled the scores when he latched onto a chipped pass from David Silva and finished past Cech. However, Arsenal will not want to see it again, as the German winger appeared to have strayed offside.
Sane almost had his second when he was played through on goal by Kevin De Bruyne, but Cech produced a good save, coming off his line to narrow the angle for the City man.
However, Sane wasn't made to rue his missed chance thanks to fellow winger Sterling. The England winger picked up the ball on the right, cut inside onto his left foot and struck past Cech at the near post to give City the lead.
From then on, the play was all City's and De Bruyne should have sealed the win after Sterling's goal, but he managed to find the outside of the post from three yards and the ball bounced out for a goal kick.
The win sees Man City move up to second ahead of Liverpool and Arsenal, respectively and sit seven points behind Chelsea. Arsenal drop to fourth and are nine points off the top of the table.