Erling Haaland has said Manchester City's derby win with 10 men shows the "personality and character" of Enzo Maresca's team.
City won 1-0 at Old Trafford on Sunday thanks to Haaland's controversial winner. The debate around the goal has overshadowed what was an impressive performance following Phil Foden's red card early in the first half.
And Haaland believes the display in difficult circumstances has shown that City are ready to mount a serious challenge to Arsenal in the Premier League this season.
"I think it shows personality," Haaland said. "I think it shows character. To be able to keep the ball at Old Trafford with 10 men, to still want to play to a certain degree, we had to change a lot.
"We had to go much longer, of course in the second half we get tired and it's not easy to run with 10 men, but to show the personality when we get the red card to keep the ball in the next five minutes, what we did.
"This is something that I love. We had to adapt and we adapted well and we were solid."
Despite a busy summer at the World Cup, Haaland has started the new season in top form. The 26-year-old has scored six goals in six games in all competitions including four in four in the Premier League.
While his winner at Old Trafford is being hotly disputed, Haaland showed his goal-scoring knack by drifting to the back post to get on the end of Josko Gvardiol's deflected cross.
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Now into his fifth season in England, defences are still struggling to cope with the threat of the Norwegian striker, who insists his ability to consistently find the net is a natural skill.
"It's just pure instinct, of what I feel is the right thing to do," he said.
"In the end, there's no solution to this or that. How to finish, how to do this, how to do that, it's just about trying to get the ball in the back of the net and shooting good enough so the keeper cannot save it. So that's just what I'm trying to think of."