Arsenal 1, Manchester City 3
Arsenal suffered their first defeat of the season at the Emirates Stadium as Manchester City beat them to retake the Premier League top spot.
Embed from Getty ImagesGoals by Kevin De Bruyne, Jack Grealish, and Erling Haaland helped clinical Manchester City topple the Gunners off top spot on goal difference despite a Bukayo Saka equaliser from the penalty spot.
And despite having a game in hand, it can’t be denied that Arsenal suffered a big psychological blow against their vastly more experienced title rivals who shifted into another gear after an edgy first half at the Emirates to rack up a 7th consecutive win in all competitions against the Gunners.
City had again gambled on a side with just three recognised defenders and were still not at their best but took full advantage of two mistakes by the Gunners and topped off their night with a controlled third goal after having two VAR decisions go against them leading to a soft penalty for Bukayo Saka and a Erling Haaland penalty claim ruled out for offside.
Haaland passed a fitness test and started at the Emirates as Pep Guardiola made just one change from the side that beat Aston Villa on Sunday.
Aymeric Laporte was replaced by Nathan Ake who had effectively looked after Bukayo Saka in the FA Cup tie a few weeks ago.
Thomas Partey missed the game for Arsenal through injury and was replaced in the side by Jorginho while Ben White was replaced by Takehiro Tomiyasu.
Jorginho fed Eddie Nketiah whose shot was blocked by Ruben Dias after some early action for both sides.
But the Gunners were hit by an early injury to Aaron Ramsdale who took his right boot off and sat down early on.
Nketiah headed wide from Arsenal’s best chance to score following a cross in by Oleksandr Zinchenko.
But after 24 minutes City were in the lead, a under-hit back pass by Tomiyasu, under pressure from Jack Grealish, was pounced on by De Bruyne who swept in a 20 yard shot with his left foot beyond Ramsdale who was left marooned by the mistake.
It was the Belgian’s 6th career goal against the Gunners – more than any other club – and only his 4th goal of the season.
A grounded Nathan Ake denied Saka a clear shot on goal and it seemed as though City were deploying some physical spoiling tactics to keep Arsenal off balance but it led to first half bookings for Kyle Walker, Bernardo Silva, and Ederson.
Ake cleared the Nketiah’s strike off the line but Arsenal were awarded a penalty for Ederson’s challenge on Nketiah after he got his shot off.
It was only the second spot kick awarded to Arsenal this term but rather than Jorginho it was Saka who stepped up and levelled the scores after sending Ederson the wrong way after 42 minutes.
And in doing so Saka scored his 25th Premier League goal at the age of 21 years and 163 days – the youngest player to achieve that for the Gunners.
And City might have retaken the lead from a free kick just before half time Rodri headed the ball down and Ake hit the crossbar with an effort just before the break.
Ederson jumped on the ball early in the second half as Saka looked increasingly dangerous.
But City then got a penalty after bringing down Haaland as both went into the box but a lengthy VAR check for offside, especially after the controversial weekend that the Gunners had endured with video refereeing, confirmed the Norwegian was in fact offside.
Riyad Mahrez was taken off for Manuel Akanji as City reorganised with Nathan Ake going to left back to take care of Saka while Bernardo Silva went to the right wing.
Tomiyasu’s ball across the area went begging while Ake’s header came off Ramsdale and Akanji’s follow-up was cleared off the line by Jorginho.
Ramsdale also snatched the ball off Haaland after a sloppy backpass by Zinchenko.
But the drama wasn’t over as Jack Grealish put finally City ahead again with 18 minutes to go after Gabriel was caught in possession by Haaland who unselfishly passed the ball to Ilkay Gundogan who quickly moved the ball on to Grealish and a slight deflection off his shot, off Tomiyasu, saw to it that the ball evaded Ramsdale from 16 yards out.
It was only his third goal of the season but the travelling fans made themselves heard after their team retook the lead.
The England midfielder was withdrawn after treatment for Phil Foden after the out-of-sorts Gabriel Martinelli was replaced by Leandro Trossard.
Trossard went down easily under a challenge by Walker following a through ball by Zinchenko as Arsenal desperately tried to get back into the game.
But despite the Gunners eventually having 64% possession it was City who carved out the better chances and were clinical with 8 minutes to go – Erling Haaland ended his relative goal drought with his 32nd goal of the season after De Bruyne, with help from Gundogan, found the Norwegian 8 yards out for a controlled finish to send Manchester City back to the Premier League summit for the first time since Bonfire night.