Arsenal London – two defeats in the first two games and the tail of the Premier League table. Manchester City – points lost to Tottenham Hotspur. This is a clash between two English teams, in which another stumble could already cause anxiety.
The Londoners were much more weakened than the Manchester team. However, it was the “Gunners” who started the attack first and in five minutes they created two good goal chances. Norwegian Martin Odegaard was very lucky. The hosts’ response turned out to be devastating.
In the 8th minute, Gabriel Jesus won the duel on the right wing, gave the ball back, and during the cross, Arsenal players easily lost a head-to-head duel with Ilay Gundogan. Chambers failed to keep an eye on it and a German of Turkish descent gave City the lead. Moments later, the same player could have raised to 2-0.
The second goal came after a series of visitors’ errors in covering, breaking the offside line and deflecting the ball from two London players, Ferran Torres. The Manchester team knocked out Arsenal after a quarter of an hour.
On the 20th minute, the hosts’ Brazilian goalkeeper Ederson passed the ball to the opponent while playing under his own goal, but Smith Rowe was so surprised that he missed a few meters. Another dangerous shot from “Kanonierów” was fired from offside.
The advantage of Manchester City turned out to be indisputable. The Londoners mainly defended themselves against losing more goals. As if that was not enough, the Londoners lost Granit Xhaka, who looked at the red card for a sharp slide. The judge’s decision – very strict.
Before the end of the second half, Fernan Torres ran several dozen meters under the goal of the slowly humiliated rivals, Jack Grealish defeated Arsenal’s defense and Gabriel Jesus shot the ball to the empty goal. It was already an execution.
Just moments after the start of the second leg, City had a good chance – Cancelo was crossing towards Bernardo Silva and Gabriel Jesus, but none of the two were able to reach the ball. Silva was also looking for another chance a few minutes later, but was blocked by Arsenal players.
In the 53rd minute Torres received the ball in the penalty area and the “Gunners” failed to catch him offside – he played the ball to Rodri, who confidently defeated Leno.
Another opportunity for a raise happened three minutes later, when Zinczenko tried his hand from the left side of the field, but the whole action backfired.
The next minutes passed on a slightly calmer game in the middle of the field, during which City did not try to charge towards Leno’s goal. In the 57th minute, Raheem Sterling saw the pitch, who a few minutes later tried to beat the German goalkeeper, but to no avail.
In the 68th minute a lot of confusion was again made by Sterling, who first headed (his shot was defended very well by Leno) and then hit from the area of the “sixteen”. Both opportunities were therefore not taken.
It had to be admitted that Sterling had brought in some “fresh blood” since he showed up on the pitch. In the 75th minute, he reached another great opportunity in the Arsenal penalty area, but Holding proved to be very vigilant, not giving him the opportunity to fire. Within a moment, Leno had to intervene again after his attempt.
Arsenal didn’t seem to think of anything else than avoiding a higher defeat in the last quarter hour. The players of the London club defended themselves with long fragments of the entire team on their half, very timidly trying to lead the action forward when there was an opportunity. Lacazette, who took over the role of the striker right on the “point”, didn’t have much to say in this part of the game.
However, “The Citizens” were ruthless – in the 84th minute, Riyad Mahrez served Ferran Torres with a great long pass, who defeated the Arsenal goalkeeper up close with a confident header.
A moment later, the hosts made another attack, which ended with a very strong shot by Mahrez – the attack was blocked, however, by the Arsenal defenders.
The referee added three minutes to the regular time for the second half of the game. At this point, Mahrez tried to score another goal, who had quite a lot of space left in the penalty area, but Leno remained extremely vigilant this time.
Ultimately, the result has not changed anymore – Manchester City beat London Arsenal very high and very definitely, making the chances of the “Gunners” trainer losing his job increased even more.
Goals: 1-0 Gundogan (8.), 2-0 Torres (12.), 3-0 Gabriel Jesus (43.), 4-0 Rodri (53.), 5-0 Torres (84.)
CITY: Ederson – Walker (Zinczenko 46.), Dias, Laporte, Cancelo – Silva (57. Sterling), Rodri, Gundogan – Gabriel Jesus, Torres, Grealish
ARSENAL: Leno – Soares Ż, Chambers, Holding, Kolasinac Ż, Tierney – Odegaard (Maitland-Niles 71.), Smith Rowe, Xhaka CZ, Saka (Elneny 46.) – Aubameyang (Lacazette 59.)
