Our brilliant Brazilian keeper made a rare, stray pass that led to Tottenham’s opening goal on Thursday evening, but he also made a brilliant save later in the game and set up Riyad Mahrez’s crucial second goal in the thrilling 4-2 win over the North Londoners.
Undoubtedly one of our all-time greatest goalkeepers, Ederson is integral to City’s calm and assured playing style, though the Brazil international admits there is always an element of risk associated with playing from the back against a high press.
“Football, in the way I play, the way the team plays, we can make mistakes,” says Ederson.
“But we need to be prepared for all the circumstances in the game.
“Against Tottenham, my mistake ended up in a goal for them, but I won’t change my way of playing, always calm, searching for the best solution.
“It’s not the first time or the last that I made a mistake, and I’ll keep doing the same things.
“Yes, it’s one of the build-ups we have, with me playing as a third defender, and this makes the distance bigger from the opponent who is trying to put pressure on me, so I can have more time for the first touch and take the best decision.
“Not always we will try short passes - when we have to, we will take longer passes.
“But the decisions are made on the pitch, we have many ways of playing, short, long balls, always three players offering to receive the ball.”
Now in his sixth season at City, with 265 appearances under his belt and nine major trophies won, Ederson is a hugely popular figure among the Blues’ fans.
And while that rare error could have proved costly, City supporters wouldn’t swap him for any other keeper in the world.
Plus, City turned around a difficult situation to produce a fantastic second-half and earn three crucial points against Antonio Conte’s side.
“It’s very hard to have a comeback in a match like this, losing 2-0 at home,” he said.
“But the team has its quality, we have our potential and in the second half we turned the tide and achieved a great result which gives us an extra boost for the rest of the season.
“It is a long season and there are plenty of games left – Arsenal have the advantage now, but we’ve been in similar situations before, if I’m not mistaken two years ago, when the opponent was eight points ahead and we came back to win the title.
“We know Arsenal is doing such a great job, with an amazing squad, but the Premier League is very competitive, and we have to keep focused, winning, playing well, try to be as close as possible to Arsenal, as a lot can still happen.”
Looking ahead to Sunday’s game against Wolves, Ederson added: “Lopetegui tries more beautiful football, he has quality players to try this.
“When a new manager comes, he always tries to put his new ideas across.
“We know it will be a tough match on Sunday, Wolves have great players, a good squad. Their position in the table does not reflect the squad they have.”
