Arsenal 0-3 Manchester City
Kevin de Bruyne was at his brilliant best at the Emirates as Manchester City blew Arsenal away in a scintillating first-half display of attacking football.
Premier League: Arsenal vs Manchester City was a chance for the Gunners to build on an away win, back home at the Emirates Stadium. But they were simply destroyed in the first 45 minutes by a Kevin De Bruyne master class. The Belgian superstar scored two and made one as sensational City went into the break 0-3 up.
A Mo Salah double gave leaders Liverpool a win over Watford yesterday which took the Reds ten points clear at the top of the league and now 14 points clear of Manchester City. And while it’s still a huge gap for the Sky Blues to close, there’s no denying that, on their day, Pep Guardiola’s team looks capable of anything.
Freddie Ljungberg was a popular player for Arsenal and, as interim head coach, he guided the Gunners to a victory over West Ham last week, but his players had no answer to De Bruyne and co tonight.
Highlights of the game
The Sky Blues’ defence has been its Achilles heel this season and they almost gifted Arsenal a goal in the first minute. Nicolas Otamendi let Gabriel Martinelli run past him and allowed the young winger to get his shot away which Ederson had to react quickly to save.
It was so nearly the perfect start for the Gunners, but City showed them exactly how to do it with their first attack of the game. Fernandinho broke clear and fed Gabriel Jesus who reached the bi-line before pulling the ball back to De Bruyne, and he smashed it into the roof of the net. It’s well worth your while taking a look at the Arsenal vs Manchester City highlights for that shot alone…simply stunning.
Arsenal were pressing high but that can always bee a dangerous tactic against the Sky Blues and they were soon punished by a brilliant and swift passing move which led to De Bruyne bursting into the penalty area, beating three defenders before squaring for Raheem Sterling to pass the ball into an empty net. 15 minutes gone and City were almost out of sight.
Keeper Bernd Leno has often been the busiest player for the Gunners this season and he wasn’t getting much help from his defence this evening. Matteo Guendouzi and Callum Chambers gave De Bruyne all the time he needed to fire a low shot past Leno from around 20 yards to make it 0-3 and the Sky Blues were out of sight!
And the Belgian almost had a stunning first-half hat-trick when Phil Foden rolled the ball into his path and he curled a beauty around the defence, only for Leno to make a brilliant fingertip save onto the post.
Arsenal’s Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang has bagged 11 goals already this season but he didn’t have a sniff in the first half. He did have an excellent chance at the start of the second, but his header flew wide.
But the Gunners’ defence was at it again and almost handed the Sky Blues a fourth when Jesus nicked the ball off Chambers before advancing on goal, but he was stopped by the excellent Leno who spread himself to save. And as City broke late in the game the keeper saved from Riyad Mahrez to keep the score respectable.
Key Statistics
The pre-match Arsenal vs Manchester City betting odds pointed firmly towards an away win at odds of 1.45, and within 15 minutes that was pretty much done and dusted.
It was the sixth Premier League game in succession in which the Gunners had conceded the opening goal and their fifth consecutive loss to Manchester City.
De Bruyne was utterly brilliant in the first half, but it was a good day for another City scorer. Raheem Sterling’s strike was his 20th goal of the season for club and country.
But Pep Guardiola will be particularly pleased that his side kept a clean sheet, amazingly for the first time in 11 games.
What’s next?
Next up, Manchester City have a Carabao Cup tie away to in-form League One side Oxford United before a huge match at home to Leicester City next week.
Keep it here for all the latest news, previews and SBOBET odds, and there will be plenty next Saturday as the Gunners are away to Everton, another side in search of a permanent head coach, and currently led by Duncan Ferguson. The former Toffees striker has repeatedly said his club needs to appoint a world-class manager, but he’s doing his own case no harm at all, having beaten Chelsea last week and drawn away to Manchester United today.
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