Manchester City put Arsenal to the sword today, taking no prisoners as they went onto win 3-1 at the Etihad.
The Citizens opened the scoring in the opening minute of the match no thanks to Chickfoot’s (Alex Iwobi) mistake. The Nigerian sloppily gave the ball away to Aymeric Laporte after some early pressure, only for the Frenchman to whip the ball into the middle for Sergio Aguero to slot home.
City continued to pile the pressure on us, and looked like they were going to add to their early lead so many times, but to my surprise we were back in the match. An Arsenal corner was whipped in for Nacho Monreal to knock onto Captain Koscielny to head up and over Ederson into the net. Looks very much like one they had practised on the training ground.
Unfortunately we were unable to build on that equaliser however, and once again we are put under the cosh by our opponents. Some intricate passing by City unlocks Raheem Sterling in the box for him to slot the ball into Sergio Aguero to slot home into an open goal. And that was the first half wrapped up.
The second half was no different to the first either. Even the addition of Aaron Ramsey and newboy Denis Suarez wasn’t enough to bring any joy our way, and they continued to push and push, and not before too long did Aguero have his hat-trick. Although it would be one that his father-in-law Diego Maradona would have been proud of… It was the pairing of Sterling and Aguero once again, although the pass this time ricochets off Leno onto the hand of the striker before ending up in the back of the net. Like the home side needed any luck…
All in all it was an impressive and frustrating performance by the Premier League champions, and our side literally had no answer for the fluid and creative play that was being set upon us.
Well done Man City. Deserved winners. Unfortunately they showed today the gap that remains between us and them.
Did Emery set the team up wrong? Should we have had more players in the middle of the park? Or was there nothing we could have done against City in the mood they were in?
Pat J