FRIENDLY FIRE
Pep shows no mercy as City batter Arteta’s Gunners
Just as Mikel Arteta thought his fortunes could not take another turn for the worse, Arsenal discovered a new way to lose. this time, defeat came via a dreadful goalkeeping error by Alex Runarsson and an offside goal missed by the assistant referee in a game when VAR was taking the night off.
there would be no Carabao Cup therapy f or the beleaguered Arsenal boss as he suffered yet another defeat.
He beat Manchester City on the way to winning the FA Cup last season but there was no way past his former club, and his mentor Pep Guardiola. With friends like Pep, who needs enemies?
Ruthless City simply swept them aside. they struck early through Gabriel Jesus before they were pegged back by Alex Lacazette, and then stretched away in the second half. Riyad Mahrez scored the second, thanks to the howler from Runarsson and Phil Foden made it three, thanks to the absent offside flag.
Aymeric Laporte added the fourth, City eased into yet another semi-final and Arsenal’s fragile confidence suffered another blow, with Chelsea up next in the Premier League.
Arteta has blamed Arsenal’s recent struggles on their wasteful finishing and summoned teenage striker Gabriel Martinelli into the team in the search for goals.
Brazilian Martinelli has been out with a knee injury, and was making his first start since an FA Cup tie at Portsmouth in March, having returned as a substitute in the defeat at Everton last saturday.
City, who are aiming to win this competition f or t he f ourth successive year, were ahead in little more than three minutes, with a slick interchange of passes on their left and a misjudgment by Runarsson.
Arsenal’s Icelandic goalkeeper shuffled f rom his l i ne i n an attempt to claim a whipped cross from Oleksandr Zinchenko but
Jesus darted ahead of him and glanced a header past him.
It is more than four years since Man City lost a League Cup tie. that was a Manchester derby at Old trafford, settled with a goal by Juan Mata. And, once ahead, the visitors dominated.
Laporte headed wide from a corner when he might have done better and Mahrez fired a freekick into a defensive wall, after Mohamed Elneny cut down a threatening Jesus run on the edge of the penalty box.
City seemed ready to run away with it and Arsenal’s desperation was summed up by Dani Ceballos throwing himself on to the floor when barely touched on the face by Fernandinho as they jostled for space at a corner.
Arteta switched to a back four, moving Ainsley Maitland-Niles from wing-back into midfield to provide extra bite, and a flash of brilliance from Martinelli created a chance for the equaliser.
He picked out Lacazette from the left and the France striker headed the ball firmly past Zack steffen, City’s American keeper, deputising for Ederson.
Arsenal, having fought back, had Runarsson to thank for keeping them in the tie. Jesus was clean through on goal only to be denied by a terrific save by the keeper.
Martinelli required l engthy treatment just before half-time, caught on the right ankle by steffen as the City keeper came sliding out to make a clearance. He did his best to continue and returned after the interval but limped off, soon after the restart, replaced by Nicolas Pepe.
Mahrez restored City’s lead. He won a soft free-kick, wriggling past Gabriel just outside the area and falling over a leg, and then beat Runarsson from the set-piece. It was fired directly at the keeper but forced its way through his hands and slithered into the net.
Mahrez, speaking to sky sports, said: ‘ I was surprised at the position of [Alex Runarsson]. He was so close to the post and luckily didn’t catch it properly and that was good for us.
‘We’ve been struggling but it’s football. It’s not always easy to score four or five goals. today we score four goals and it was a solid performance.’
Foden added the third, released by a pass from Fernandinho and finishing with his left foot, a dink over the onrushing Runarsson. Replays showed he was just offside but there was no VAR to intervene. the absence of replays helped Arsenal when Gabriel appeared to handle the ball in the box, but there was no way back.
Laporte headed in the fourth from Foden’s cross.
ARSENAL (3-4-3): Runarsson; Mustafi, Gabriel, Kolasinac; Soares, Ceballos, Elneny (SmithRowe 66), Maitland-Niles; Willock, Martinelli (Pepe 49), Lacazette (Balogun 77). Subs not used: Leno, Tierney, Mari, Nketiah. Booked: Mustafi, Elneny.
MAN CITY (4-3-3): Steffen; Cancelo, Dias, Laporte, Zinchenko; Fernandinho, Rodri (Walker 77), Foden; Mahrez, Gabriel Jesus (Aguero 74), B Silva (F Torres 70). Subs not used: Ederson, Stones, Sterling, Gundogan. Booked: B Silva. Man of the match: Riyad Mahrez. Referee: Stuart Attwell.