Arsenal 1-3 Man City: Premier League title race gets another twist as Gunners lose at home to City
In a clash of titans, Manchester City has defeated their recently acquired rivals Arsenal in a 3-1 defeat, to go top of the Premier League table for first time this season.
Pep Guardiola and his men handed Mikkel Arteta’s boys a hard lesson. In what was supposed to be a close encounter, Manchester City was more in control. And in the end emerged victorious quite easily.
Thanks to goals by Kevin de Bruyne, Jack Grealish, and Erin Haaland, City was able to take the lead and maintain it till the end of 90minutes.
Kevin de Bryune’s flash of brilliance
The match started on square one, with neither team having an edge over the other. But that was until the 24th minute of the game, when de Bryune made most of a mistake by Tomiyasu.
Put under the pump, the Japanese defender made a small error by choosing the wrong pass to his keeper. Such are the margins on the highest level that the Belgian made the most of his mistake.
And what appeared like a nonchalant mistake ended up costing Arsenal a goal. But that takes nothing away from KBD who took a clean strike from outside the box to beat a charging Ramsdale to put the ball into an empty net.
Saka pulls game to square one
The lead for Manchester City only lasted for 20 odd minutes as Saka levelled the scoring towards the end of the first half. He took a clean strike from somewhat muddled penalty decision to send Ederson the wrong way.
It was a great attack by Arsenal that looked threatening enough to force a goal line clearance. It was none other than Bukayo Saka who almost reached over the line from free play.
But was denied near the goal line, and when everyone was looking at referee to decide whether it was a goal or not, something surprising happened, as the man in the middle pointed towards the spot.
Replays showed that the penalty was awarded for Ederson blocking Saka’s path. The commentators debated if this was the right decision, given it was the keeper.
The penalty decision stood though and Saka made the most of it.
Grealish, Haaland seal the deal
The second half saw both the teams tussle for possession and scoring opportunities. And it was Jack Grealish who made most of one such opportunity that came his team’s way.
It was a good ball played into the box by Gundogan on left hand side. Grealish did well enough to hit it first time and get a goal for it as well.
In the dying ambers of the game, Haaland decided to step up for his team. Having failed to score in previous two PL encounters he was rearing to go. And finally turned up in a high intensity game against Arsenal.
Kevin de Bruyne set up the Norwegian robot into the box, who managed to squeeze the ball on the far corner to double his team’s lead.
Arsenal had no answer for this great play by Manchester City and lost the game 3-1.
City strengthen Title defense
With these crucial three points Manchester City go top of the table for first time this season. they are level on point with Arsenal, but have a better goal difference.
However, this lead would not last long as Arsenal has played one less game than City. Hence, if they win their next game, they will once again emerge as the league leaders.
For now, all that can be said is that Manchester City has marked their return in the title race. The winner will be decided on who can hold their nerves better in the remaining course of the season.
