Arsenal drub holders Manchester City 5-1 to keep slim title hopes alive

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Arsenal produced a scintillating performance at the Emirates Stadium yesterday to pile more agony on Pep Guardiola as the defending English Premier League champions Manchester City were comprehensively beaten 5-1 on the road.

While trying to stretch their unbeaten run to 14 games in all competitions, Arsenal changed quite a few personnel in the starting line-up that defeated Spanish outfit Girona in the preceding midweek. David Raya was brought back under the crossbar while Timber, Saliba, Gabriel and Lewis-Skelly formed the back four. Mikel Arteta preferred to continue with Partey and Rice in the central midfield with Odegaard as the playmaker deployed just behind the forwards Martinelli, Havertz and Trossard.

Meanwhile, after two back to back victories against Chelsea and Club Brugge, Pep Guardiola also revamped his starting eleven. Stefan Ortega was the custodian in the absence of Ederson with an unchanged back four consisting Nunes, Akanji, Stones and Gvardiol. Kovacic and Bernardo Silva formed the central midfield partnership while new signing Omar Marmoush was in the attacking midfield position just behind goal poacher Erling Haaland with Savinho and Foden in the flanks.

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In a season full of disappointment for Manchester City, they must’ve thought they’d turned a corner after advancing in the UEFA Champions League in midweek. However, they got the reality check within 2 minutes of the start when Akanji was caught under pressure and Havertz got the ball on the left of the box and squared for Odegaard who coolly slotted home. It was the Norwegian’s second goal of the current premier league season.

After conceding so early in the game, though the visitors kept superior ball possession during the rest of the first half, the final outcomes were not that worthwhile. The Arsenal defence didn’t get any trouble except a few good saves from Raya.

10 minutes after the restart, another Norwegian, Haaland restored parity with a lofted header over Raya after Savinho sent a superb cross into the box. But the Gunners retook the lead within less than a minute when Thomas Partey got to the ball on the edge of the box after a dreadful miss pass by Phil Foden and the Ghanaian’s powerful strike found the back of the net after getting a deflection from John Stones.

Since then till the end, it was all one-way traffic. Arsenal doubled their lead in the 62^nd minute when Declan Rice teed up with Myles Lewis-Skelly inside the box and the 18 year old cut inside Stones, wrapping up a curling shot to make the score-line 3-1. Apart from the goal, the City players and fans also had to digest the ‘Haaland like’ celebration of the young Englishman.

Then in the 76^th minute, the provider of the first goal turned the scorer when Kai Havertz was put through by Martinelli in the counter attack and the German showed brilliant composure inside the box to fire into the bottom corner with his favoured left foot to make the score-line 4-1.

The humiliation of the visitors was completed in the 3^rd minute of stoppage time when substitute Ethan Nwaneri met a perfect cross from Declan Rice on the edge of the penalty area and the 17 year old England international unleashed a perfect left footed strike that was beyond Ortega’s reach.

With this thumping victory, Arsenal are now 2^nd in the league table with 50 points in 24 matches, 6 behind Liverpool who have a game in hand, while City are 4^th with 41 points.

In the other EPL matches of yesterday, Tottenham emerged victorious 2-0 at Brentford while Manchester United yet again losing at home with the same margin, this time against Crystal Palace.

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