THE VERDICT: ARSENAL 0 CITY 2
PEP Guardiola is slowly educating City fans – and sooner or later they will start to realise that he DOES actually know what he is doing!
Goals from Raheem Sterling and Bernardo Silva got the Blues’ defence of their title off to the perfect start, and erstwhile bogey team Arsenal have now been beaten in the last four meetings of the two teams.
Not that you would think that possible, from the reaction of some fans when the teams were announced.
The teamsheet for the tricky opening fixture at the Emirates - brimming with optimistic home fans at the start of a new era - had an unfamiliar look.
No Kevin de Bruyne, no David Silva, no Vincent Kompany, no Leroy Sane, no Nicolas Otamendi. No problem. As we saw on the Blues’ pre-season tour, the true beauty of the template which the Catalan coach has stamped on this club is that, even when the personnel changes, the bold attacking style and perfect mutual understanding remains.
This looked like a job for experienced old heads, especially at the back, but Guardiola placed his faith in the future by pairing John Stones and Aymeric Laporte.
And despite declaring that De Bruyne was in perfect nick, he resisted the temptation to fling him straight into the action, even though a minor fitness problem meant David Silva remained in Manchester. The manager insisted last week his team for the league opener would be ‘Bernardo plus 10 others’ and he was as good as his word – he handed the Portuguese maestro the playmaking role in which his namesake David has revelled for the last eight years. Other managers might have played safe, and sent out De Bruyne and his experienced defenders, especially in a match which had an uncertain feel to it. But by trusting in players who would not have been first choices last season, he sent out a strong message. The Blues repaid that faith in an enterprising first half, with raiding full-backs Benjamin Mendy and Kyle Walker creating havoc. With Sergio Aguero more of a link man than a goal poacher, and Raheem Sterling buzzing around the flanks of the retreating Gunners like an angry wasp, City were good value for their lead. The goal came when the ball was worked to Sterling, starting on the lefthand side. He drifted inside two challenges and his firm shot deceived Petr Cech, who made little attempt to keep it out – and that also threw the travelling fans, who delayed their goal celebration just to be sure it HAD found the net. Stuart Brennan None Sterling (14), Bernardo (64) 42% 58% 17 9 9 2 Xhaka, Papastathopoulos Sterling, De Bruyne Michael Oliver 59,934
Laporte missed a couple of chances to double the lead, and in the second half Aguero committed the cardinal sin of shooting at Cech when a simple square ball would have left substitute De Bruyne with a tap-in.
That was quickly forgotten as another left-sided City raid saw Mendy on the overlap.
Just when he seemed to have been squeezed out of options, Bernardo Silva darted to the penalty spot and gleefully thrashed the French left-back’s cross high into the net.
That sealed a standard win, without ever hitting top gear, it injected belief in the entire squad, and cranked up the competition for places.
Arsenal has always been a bogey trip for City, but this victory means they have chalked up consecutive wins on the red side of north London for the first time since 1936.