Premier League Champions Manchester City traveled to North London to face a dismal Arsenal side in the late fixture on Sunday. Arsenal won only one Premier League game since late October, and were looking to regain their form under interim manager Freddie Ljungberg, while Manchester City also stumbled last Saturday in the Manchester Derby and were looking to get back on winning ways.
Pep Guardiola handed a rare start to young English midfielder Phil Foden, and he took full advantage of it. The match started with City on the attacking front and a low cross by Gabriel Jesus was lashed into the roof of the net by Kevin De Bruyne giving Bernd Leno no chance and getting an early lead for the visitors in the 2nd minute.
And Pep Guadiola’s men managed to get a quick second goal in the 15th minute when Phil Foden threaded the ball to Kevin De Bruyne, who drove past the Arsenal backline before cleverly sliding a pass across the goal for Raheem Sterling, who was completely unmarked and tapped the ball into the empty net to double the lead for the Citizens.
Arsenal were just abysmal on the field. Their attacks had no end products and their defense couldn’t hold the Man City attack. City were the dominant side throughout the match and caused troubles for Leno. They tripled their lead when Phil Foden laid off Kevin De Bruyne again, who was given ample time and space to shoot the ball into the bottom corner beyond Leno to make the scoreline 3-0 in favor of the Blues.
Arsenal came out attacking in the first 10 minutes of the second half, however they couldn’t pull one back, and then onwards, it was one way traffic at the Emirates Stadium. City came out all guns blazing, and forced some brilliant saves from Bernd Leno. They created numerous chances, but couldn’t convert any of them as the visitors claimed a comfortable 3-0 win.
The result means that Arsenal remain in a troubling 9th spot in the Premier League, a spot that could become even worse if Crystal palace manage to get a point against Brighton on Monday. City, meanwhile, cut Liverpool’s lead at the top to 14 points, but it’ll take plenty more performances like this to catch them.
Player Ratings:
Arsenal:
Bernd Leno- 6
Ainsley Maitland-Niles- 5
Callum Chambers- 4
Sokratis- 4
Sead Kolasinac- 5
Matteo Guendouzi- 5
Lucas Torreira- 6
Nicolas Pepe- 4
Mesut Ozil- 5
Gabriel Martinelli- 5
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang- 5
Subs:
Bukayo Saka- 5
Emile Smith-Rowe- 5
Joseph Willock- N/A
Manchester City:
Ederson- 7
Benjamin Mendy- 6
Fernandinho- 7
Nicolas Otamendi- 7
Kyle Walker- 7
Phil Foden- 8
Rodri- 7
Ilkay Gundogan- 7
Kevin De Bruyne- 9
Raheem Sterling- 8
Gabriel Jesus- 8
Subs:
Bernardo Silva- 7
Riyad Mahrez- 6
Oleksandr Zinchenko- N/A
