City also came within a whisker of seeing their unbeaten record end this season when Luka Milivojevic’s injury-time penalty was saved by goalkeeper Ederson at the end of a pulsating 0-0 draw at Crystal Palace.

Guardiola’s side were forced to finish the game with 10 men after Kevin De Bruyne was taken off on a stretcher after suffering a horror challenge from Jason Puncheon in the mayhem following the spot-kick and will be assessed today.

With Gabriel Jesus ruled out for at least a month with knee ligament damage after leaving the pitch in tears earlier in the game, Guardiola is set to discuss with his board the possibility of bringing his planned summer transfer business to January.

It is no secret that Arsenal’s Sanchez – available on a free transfer at the end of the season – is top of his wish-list and his instinct was to play down the link.

But, with Arsenal likely to be persuaded to offload the divisive Chile international for a fee approaching £25m, Guardiola also hinted that high-level talks could take place in coming days of the New Year.

“I have a lot of things to think about – in two days we have another game,” he said.

“That’s why, when that happens, we will have internal meetings to decide what is the best.

"But Alexis is an Arsenal player and I think he is going to stay there.”

With the gap at the top of the Premier League increased to 14 points, the Champions League is Guardiola’s biggest focus ahead of their trip to Basel for the Round of 16 on February 13.

But the City manager feels his side are riding their luck with injuries after recent challenges by Dele Alli and Harry Kane on Kevin de Bruyne and Sergio Aguero preceded more rough treatment yesterday.

“I admire the physicality of the Premier League but the referee has to protect the players,” demanded Guardiola.

“The FA know exactly what they have to do. They are all talking about diving and this kind of thing is okay. But contact is allowed here more than in any other country.

“We were lucky against Tottenham, we were lucky against Newcastle with Ilkay Gundogan and today the same. Protect all the players, please, in situations which are dangerous,.

“We cannot win every game with that intensity. Not after the problems we had with Benjamin Mendy and other players. John Stones was six weeks out.

“There is a line beyond which it is dangerous because the players can be out for a few months. The referee has to follow the rules and protect the guys.” Palace skipper Scott Dann was also taken off on a stretcher with what Roy Hodgson described as “a serious knee injury” and the Palace manager fears his side may pay a price when they visit Southampton tomorrow.

“We’re massively stretched,” said Hodgson. “Mamadou Sakho is still out, Joel Ward is recovering and now we’ve lost Scott Dann and Jason Puncheon. We’ve stretched our resources to the absolute limit.

“The sense is there’s an element of being very satisfied with the performance but we can only savour it for a very brief period because we go to Southampton on Tuesday with very little rest and lots of injuries.”