ARSENAL 0, MANCHESTER CITY 3
A first half blizzard of goals by Bernardo Silva, David Silva, and Leroy Sane crushed Arsenal’s attempt to go toe to toe with Manchester City following their Carabao Cup heartbreak with three goals in 18 first half minutes of an entirely one sided match in which the Gunners couldn’t even score from the penalty spot in the second half after City took their foot off the gas to win their 71st game out of 100 under Pep Guardiola with a repeat of the scoreline that won the Catalan his first silverware in England.
By the 33rd minute of this contest clinical City had scored with each of their last six shots on target against Arsenal – three in the Carabao Cup final and another treble here as the Gunners conceded three goals in the first half of a Premier League game for the first time and wasted a succession of chances to score against their visitors.
How different it might have been if Arsene Wenger’s high risk strategy – to match City man for man and attack them – had not spectacularly backfired at a freezing underpopulated Emirates Stadium as City extended their lead at the top of the Premier League to 16 points.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Danny Welbeck, Granit Xhaka, Aaron Ramsay, and Mesut Ozil were all denied by blocks by City players or saves by Ederson in a first half that saw the Gunners try to take the game to their visitors but they reckoned without the superior speed, workmate, and guile from their cup winning visitors.
City made two changes from Sunday’s Wembley victory in the Carabao Cup final, with Bernardo Silva replacing the injured Fernandinho and Ederson coming in for Claudio Bravo at an eerily half empty and snowy Emirates Stadium in the middle a snowstorm courtesy of the Beast from the East.
Many Arsenal fans chose to stay away either due to the weather or disillusionment following the Gunners’ 3-0 defeat to City just days ago but they had a very encouraging start to the rematch in London, ensuring that Ederson was busier than Bravo was at Wembley last Sunday.
Aaron Ramsey could have helped Arsenal take the lead in the eighth minute with an incisive through ball that was deflected away by Kompany. Henrikh Mkhitaryan also had a chance to score, testing Ederson with a shot as Arsenal showed a reaction from their poor defeat on Sunday to tonight’s opponents.
But City were soon in front as Leroy Sane’s cross found Bernardo Silva in acres of space, cutting inside onto his left foot from the right flank to sling the ball into the top corner after just 15 minutes – his sixth goal of the season.
Welbeck was blocked by Otamendi as he tried to get past the big City defender after Mesut Ozil had found him with a great pass while Granit Xhaka was denied by Ederson, who was busier tonight who tipped away his long range shot.
Sane was the architect of another bitter blow to Arsenal when he sliced through the Arsenal defence, taking the ball off David Silva and giving it to Sergio Aguero who laid the ball back to Silva who took a touch and then doubled City’s lead after 28 minutes with his seventh goal of the season – and his second goal against the Gunners in a week.
Sane was rewarded for his fine game play with City’s third goal, defeating the Arsenal press, counter attacking mercilessly and leaving the Blues with a third goal five minutes later when the German winger beat Bellerin to Sergio Aguero’s perfect pass to sweep the ball home from close range for his 12th goal of the season.
Aguero was denied by Petr Cech after meeting Kevin De Bruyne’s low cross as City looked disappointed to miss out on a fourth first half goal.
Arsenal couldn’t event get a break when Mkhitaryan was felled by a rash challenge by Otamendi from behind to earn a penalty after 53 minutes after a casual start to the second half by City – Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was denied by Ederson who dived the right way and easily saved the poor effort.
A calamitous goalkeeping error would have been the cherry on top for City after Petr Cech hit an attempted goal clearance straight to De Bruyne who was pressing him but was relieved to see the ball bounce away.
Aubameyang dragged a shot wide as the Gunners nominally looked on top against a City side that looked to be in cruise control during the second period.
Oleksandr Zinchenko replaced Kyle Walker, who had sustained an injury, with 17 minutes to go and Aguero, chasing his 200th City goal, was denied for the second time in the match by Cech before being replaced by Yaya Toure with David Silva replaced by Gabriel Jesus in the dying minutes as City eased their way to victory.