At times, in the first 45 minutes of the Arsenal v City game, you could be forgiven for thinking the visitors had 15 players on the pitch, such was their ability to surge forward, keep possession, win the ball back, and completely overrun their hosts. Arsenal could barely get beyond the halfway line and when they did have a rare foray forward, they ran out of numbers and ideas.
18 straight wins, 13 of them in the Premier League tells you everything you need to know about City’s quality and ability, with just 4 goals conceded in their last 17 games. In short, the hosts were in the game but never on and the result of the Arsenal v City match never seemed in doubt.
The Gunners’ touch was extremely poor with everyone in a red and white shirt seemingly wearing Willian’s water-logged boots, with es falling too short or thumped too long as City began to assume the sort of dominance and control that made home fans feel desperately uncomfortable.
The Cityzens had gears to spare and you felt that it was just a case of hitting them as necessary, whereas Arsenal were constantly out of possession and off the pace. Guardiola’s side managed to keep the ball for what seemed like three or four minutes at a time, with each crisp finding its target as the play flowed across the pitch.
The opening was something of a disappointment from the purist point of view with the Arsenal defence going to sleep, allowing Sterling, one of the shortest players on the pitch, to steal a march on one of the tallest, Rob Holding, to head into the goal (2).
It was almost all City from that point, but they surprisingly failed to twist the knife, perhaps, they just settled into a pattern or knew that Arsenal had nothing much to trouble them. From about the 35th minute, Arsenal improved but not enough to grab a goal or to get level, they just had more possession and appeared to be more in the game than they actually were.
Arsenal continued to gain momentum but again, they lacked any real threat and City seemed content to just finish a goal up as they drifted about in a trance-like state. Having said that, you sensed that they could unlock Arsenal’s defence at any given moment whereas Arsenal huffed and puffed without real menace.
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80 plus minutes on the clock and Holding got clipped heavily on the jaw and was replaced by Luiz, and at the other end, Aubameyang was shamefully shoved off the ball by John Stones and ended up spinning on the gravel. I sat in disbelief as City took the subsequent goal-kick, yet again Arsenal were second best in any important decisions.
Arteta’s side can take heart for their perseverance and ability to stay in the Arsenal v City game but the result wasn’t exactly in doubt at any stage, with the City defence in magnificent form. This wasn’t their usual flamboyant outing but sometimes, you just need the points without caring how you got them and Pep hasn’t forgotten what it takes to win.
In regards to Arsenal, it’s clear that they may have to suffer another few seasons of this before they can even sneak a draw, let alone a win.
