A few days ago, Pep Guardiola savoured the names as he read them out. It was a list of the clubs who had tried to force Manchester City into the wilderness three years ago when City were facing Uefa charges of financial wrong-doing. Arsenal were the sixth club Guardiola mentioned but he and City came for them first.
It may have been unseasonably mild in north London and this may have been a brilliant game of football played in the white heat of competition that boiled over several times – not least when Kevin de Bruyne gave Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta a hefty shove on the touchline – but City’s revenge, sealed by Erling Haaland’s 26th league goal of the season, was cold.
It seems only the blink of an eye has passed since Arsenal were eight points ahead at the top of the Premier League but this tumultuous, breathtaking 3-1 victory at the Emirates took City above them. Arsenal, once so fluent and so confident, are beset by doubts. They have not won any of their last three league games and even though they still have a game in hand on City, they still have to visit the Etihad at the end of April.
Fired by resentment that the rest of the Premier League – and the rest of the world – is against them after they were charged with 115 financial breaches last week, City are playing like a team propelled by anger as well as sublime talent. This was a crushing psychological blow for Arsenal. It meant City have now won each of the last 11 league encounters between the two teams. They will now be firm favourites to win their third title in a row.
There have been times in the last few weeks when the weight of history and the pain of nearly 20 years of lost ambitions seemed to be crushing Arsenal. There has been so much upheaval since the Invincibles won their last title in 2003-04, so much angst in the parting with Arsene Wenger, the father of the modern club, that the unexpected joy of this season’s tilt at the title seemed almost too good to be true.
Deep down, most people thought Arsenal would falter and that the Manchester City machine would glide past them. Arsenal seemed to think that, too.
They blinked first when Arteta fielded a weakened team in an FA Cup tie against City three weeks ago as if to protect himself from going toe to toe with the champions. Arsenal lost and they have not won since. It reinforced their inferiority complex about City. Last night’s result felt like a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Arsenal suffered a blow before the match when Thomas Partey was ruled out through injury but his replacement, Jorginho, created the home side’s first opening after ten minutes when he intercepted a pass from Kevin de Bruyne. Jorginho released Eddie Nketiah with a clipped ball into the inside right channel and it took a fine sliding block from Ruben Dias to stifle the danger.
Two minutes later, City forged a chance of their own. Riyad Mahrez twisted and turned on the Arsenal box and clipped a clever flighted pass to the back post. Erling Haaland, who had passed a late fitness test, ghosted on to it at the back post but instead of shooting, he hooked it across goal. There was no one there to administer the final touch.
Arsenal should have taken the lead midway through the half when Oleksandr Zinchenko curled a cross into the area and Nketiah rose unmarked between Nathan Ake and Bernardo Silva, who was playing at left back. Silva gazed up at Nketiah as he leapt but, from the edge of the six yard box, Nketiah could only steer his header wide. Arsenal would soon regret his profligacy.
A minute later, City were ahead. Takehiro Tomiyasu, who had been preferred to Ben White at right back, tried to mop up a poor defensive header from William Saliba by passing the ball back to Aaron Ramsdale. But he hit the ball woefully short and, his mouth agape in horror, he watched De Bruyne run on to it.
Ramsdale was in no man’s land on the edge of his area and De Bruyne lobbed it over him with his left foot in a lazy arc. It bounced just inside the post and over the line. The Emirates was stunned into silence. Martin Odegaard lifted Tomiyasu’s chin up with the palm of his hand to try to reassure him.
Arsenal tried to hit back. Saka dallied too long on the ball and Ake blocked his shot. On the touchline, Arteta turned into the prowling, howling, incandescent, aggrieved, angry man we have grown used to seeing.
Sometimes, every decision seems like an injustice to him. If City think the world is against them, Arteta gives the impression he believes the world is against Arsenal, too.
The Emirates crowd grew fractious, too. They became increasingly enraged by what they saw as City’s time-wasting but five minutes before half time, they forgot their woes.
Nketiah ran on to a lofted ball into the box and prodded a shot past Ederson, who had already been booked for his part in City’s delaying tactics, as he rushed out to meet him.
Ake hooked the ball off the line but Ederson had clattered into Nketiah as he tried to block his shot and referee Anthony Taylor pointed to the spot. City were part mystified, part infuriated but the decision did not change.
After a long, nerve-shredding wait, Saka took the kick and sent Ederson the wrong way. Arsenal were level. The Emirates went wild.
It was a terrific match, end-to-end, unrelenting, unforgiving, full of boldness and ambition. It looked like a game between the country’s top two teams. Deep in added on time in the first half, City came close to taking the lead again when Rodri’s header flicked up off Ake’s boot and hit the face of the bar. It looped up into the air and Ramsdale slammed it gratefully into touch with both gloves.
City thought they had a penalty of their own ten minutes into the second half when Haaland and Gabriel wrestled each other as Haaland ran on to a pass from Kyle Walker. Haaland turned past Gabriel and Gabriel brought him down. Mr Taylor pointed to the spot but VAR decided Haaland was offside. The decision took an eternity. After the officiating shambles at the weekend, now was not the time to get another one wrong.
The game continued to pitch and yaw. Nketiah came within inches of putting Arsenal ahead when he stretched to touch in a cross from Tomiyasu but it just eluded him. A minute later, Jorginho kicked off the line. A minute after that, Zinchenko gave the ball straight to Silva on the edge of the box and Ramsdale made a fine save from Haaland. It was brilliant and breathless.
Neither side deserved to lose but at least Grealish’s goal was worthy of winning the game. After Gabriel lost the ball in his own half, City worked it from Haaland to Ilkay Gundogan on the edge of the box. Gundogan let the ball run to Grealish, who swept it past Ramsdale with the help of a slight but critical deflection from poor Tomiyasu.
City put the game out of reach eight minutes from time when another swift interchange of passes between Gundogan and De Bruyne moved the ball to Haaland six yards out. Haaland took a touch and poked the ball past Ramsdale.
SOURCE: dailymail.co.uk
