Citizens silence the Guns
Guardiola’s men brush off Arsenal to continue winning streak
MANCHESTER: They may not have been at their very best but English Premier League leaders Manchester City still had enough to beat Arsenal 3-1 at the Etihad and extend their winning streak to 15 games.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger clearly felt his best hope of halting City’s run of wins in all competitions was to keep men behind the ball and try to eliminate space for City’s prolific attack.
Fielding a five-man defence, with the fullbacks staying deep and midfielder Francis Coquelin in the middle of the back-line, Arsenal’s intentions were clear but frustrating City at the moment is far easier said than done.
City grabbed the lead in the 19th minute through a low drive from Belgian midfielder Kevin De Bruyne, after his initial shot had been parried out by Petr Cech.
The home side’s trademark fast counter-attack should have brought a second in the 35th minute when De Bruyne fed Raheem Sterling, but the winger overhit his pass to Leroy Sane with the German in a great position.
Arsenal were just about managing to stay in the game and on the stroke of half-time City keeper Ederson needed to be at his most alert to get down and keep out a well-struck effort from Aaron Ramsey.
City doubled their advantage five minutes after the interval when club record scorer Sergio Aguero slotted home a penalty after Sterling was barged over by Nacho Monreal.
City’s normally slick passing were a little off at times and they showed signs of fatigue from their midweek exertions at Napoli in the Champions League.
Having not gained much joy from Alexis Sanchez on his own in attack with Mesut Ozil behind him, Arsenal threw on striker Alexandre Lacazette in the 56th minutes and the Frenchman fired them back into the game with a clinical diagonal finish after being set up by Ramsey.
But City restored their two-goal
lead when David Silva, in what replays suggested was an offside position, collected a pass from Fernandinho and slipped the ball to substitute Gabriel Jesus for a simple tap-in.
Tottenham Hotspur rode their luck before South Korean forward Son Heung-min earned them a 1-0 victory over bottom club Crystal Palace to consolidate their place in the Premier League’s top four.
Mauricio Pochettino’s side, fresh from beating European champions Real Madrid in midweek, found Palace a difficult nut to crack at Wembley and could have been behind before Heung-min curled in the winner midway through the second half.
Despite not being at their best, however, Tottenham remained in third position with 23 points having won five of their last six league games. They are behind Manchester United on goal difference.
“No point in beating Real Madrid on Wednesday if you can’t win at home at the weekend,” Tottenham defender Eric Dier said.
“We knew it would be difficult today with players missing but we wanted to keep the momentum going.”
Palace have four points from 11 games but could count themselves unfortunate as Scott Dann was twice denied by Tottenham’s debutant goalkeeper Paulo Gazzaniga while Wilfried Zaha wasted a great chance shortly before Spurs scored.
Gazzaniga also saved well from former Tottenham player Andros Townsend early in the second half while Heung-min could have given a nervy Tottenham breathing space but dragged a good chance wide.
Tottenham were without Dele Alli, scorer of two goals in the 3-1 victory over Real, while goalkeeper Hugo Lloris and his deputy Michel Vorm were both unable to start, handing a first appearance to Argentina’s Gazzaniga.
The 25-year-old grabbed his chance, making crucial saves to earn the man-of-the-match vote.
Tottenham dominated the first half without being able to break down a stubborn Palace side and they were grateful to Gazzaniga who saved well from Dann’s header.
The second half was more open and Palace grew in confidence after Townsend took advantage of a defensive mistake to force another great save from the home goalkeeper.
Tottenham began to commit players forward and Zaha should have punished them when he was clean through but, after going round a poorly-positioned Gazzaniga, he shot wide with the goal at his mercy.
It proved a costly miss for Roy Hodgson’s side.
A few minutes later a clever Tottenham move ended up with Harry Kane playing in Danny Rose whose shot was blocked. The ball ended up with Heung-min on the edge of a crowded area and he curled a delightful shot past Julian Speroni.
Heung-min is now the leading Asian scorer in the Premier League with 20 goals.