Pep Guardiola proves his class with 'unbelievable touch' for Harry Arter and his family

Harry Arter has thanked Pep Guardiola after the Manchester City manager wished him and his wife well for the upcoming birth of their child.

Arter and his partner Rachel's daughter was tragically stillborn in December 2015 and the City boss proved his class by seeking out the Republic of Ireland midfielder following Man City's 2-0 win over Bournemouth.

"He offered his best wishes for me and my partner this week, which was an unbelievable touch,” Arter told the Bournemouth Echo.

"He is someone I have a massive amount of respect for. I watched his Barcelona teams – and look at his Manchester City side tonight. For me, he is the best manager in the world. I don’t think there’s anybody close to him and what he has achieved.

"For him to offer that to me, I respected it and accepted it with a smile on my face."

Pep Guardiola was asked what he had said to Arter in his post-match press conference on Monday evening: "He will be a father soon so I said big congratulations to him and his partner," he replied.

"I know what happened in the past, and, hopefully, the baby will be well."

Manchester City recovered from the early loss of Gabriel Jesus to move up to second place in the Premier League table with their third-straight win.

Defeat for Bournemouth was their sixth in their last nine games and the Cherries are now just six points off the relegation zone.

Goals from Raheem Sterling and Sergio Aguero - who came off the bench after being denied a starting berth for the third straight match - saw City complete a convincing 2-0 win at the Vitality Stadium.

Despite closing the gap on league leaders Chelsea to eight points, Pep Guardiola refused to talk up City's chances of reeling in the runaway leaders. 

"They have to lose three games, and we have to win all our games,” Guardiola reasoned. “You know how difficult that is in the Premier League. So we have to go game by game, narrow the gap.”