Slick City slide into
Guardiola’s side deliver crushing blow to Arsenal’s title challenge
AFEW days ago, Pep Guardiola savoured the names as he read them out. It was a list of clubs who tried to force Manchester City into the wilderness three years ago when they were facing UEFA charges of financial wrong-doing. Arsenal were the sixth club Guardiola mentioned, but he and City came for them first.
This may have been a brilliant game, played in the white heat of competition that boiled over several times — not least when Kevin De Bruyne gave Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta a hefty shove on the touchline — but City’s revenge, sealed by Erling Haaland’s 26th league goal of the season, was ice cold.
It seems only the blink of an eye since Arsenal were eight points clear at the top of the Premier League but this tumultuous, breathtaking victory took City above them. The Gunners, once so fluent and confident, are beset by doubts. They have not won in three league games and even though they still have a game in hand on City, they must visit the Etihad at the end of April.
Fired by resentment that everyone is against them after they were charged with 115 financial breaches last week, City are playing like a team propelled by anger as well as sublime talent.
But this was a crushing psychological blow for Arsenal. City have now won each of the last 11 league encounters between the two. They will now be firm favourites to win their third title in a row.
Arsenal suffered a blow when Thomas Partey was ruled out through injury but his replacement, Jorginho, created the home side’s first opening after 10 minutes when he intercepted a pass from De Bruyne. The Italian released Eddie Nketiah with a clipped ball into the inside right channel and it took a fine sliding block from Ruben Dias to stifle the danger.
Two minutes later, City forged a chance of their own. Riyad Mahrez twisted and turned on the edge of the box and clipped a clever flighted pass to the back post. Haaland, who had passed a late fitness test, ghosted on to it but instead of shooting, hooked it across goal. Sadly for him, there was no one there to administer the final touch.
Arsenal should have taken the lead midway through the half when Oleksandr Zinchenko curled a cross into the area and Nketiah rose unmarked between Nathan Ake and Bernardo Silva.
Silva gazed up at Nketiah as he leapt but, from the edge of the six-yard box, the striker could only steer his header wide. Arsenal would soon regret his profligacy.
A minute later, City were ahead. Takehiro Tomiyasu, who had been preferred to Ben White at right back, tried to mop up a poor defensive header from William Saliba by passing the ball back to Aaron Ramsdale. But he hit the ball woefully short and, mouth agape in horror, watched De Bruyne run on to it.
Ramsdale was in no man’s land on the edge of his area and De Bruyne lobbed it over him with his left foot in a lazy arc. It bounced just inside the post and over the line. The Emirates was stunned into silence. Martin Odegaard lifted Tomiyasu’s chin up with his hand to try and reassure him.
Arsenal tried to hit back. Bukayo Saka dallied too long on the ball and Ake blocked his shot. On the touchline, Arteta became the prowling, howling, incandescent, angry man we have grown used to seeing. Sometimes, every decision seems like an injustice to him. If City think the world is against them, Arteta gives the impression it is against Arsenal, too.
The Emirates crowd also grew fractious. They became increasingly enraged by what they saw as City time-wasting, but five minutes before half-time they forgot their woes. Nketiah ran on to a lofted ball into the box and prodded a shot past Ederson, who had already been booked for his part in City’s delaying tactics, as he rushed out to meet him.
Ake hooked the ball off the line but Ederson had clattered into Nketiah and referee Anthony Taylor pointed to the spot.
City were part mystified, part infuriated, but the decision did not change. After a long, nerveshredding wait, Saka took the kick and sent Ederson the wrong way. The Emirates went wild.
It was a terrific game, end-to-end, unrelenting, unforgiving, full of boldness and ambition. It looked like a game between the country’s top two teams.
Deep in added time in the first half, City came close to taking the lead again when Rodri’s header flicked up off Ake’s boot and hit the face of the bar. It looped up into the air again and Ramsdale slammed it gratefully into touch with both gloves.
City thought they had a penalty of their own 10 minutes into the second half when Haaland and Gabriel wrestled each other as Haaland ran on to a pass from Kyle Walker. Haaland spun past Gabriel and was brought down.
Taylor pointed to the spot but VAR decided Haaland was offside. The decision took an eternity. After the officiating shambles at the weekend, now was not the time to get another one wrong.
The game continued to pitch and yaw. Nketiah came within inches of putting Arsenal ahead when he stretched to touch in a cross from Tomiyasu that just eluded him. A minute later, Jorginho cleared off the line, then Zinchenko gave the ball straight to Silva on the edge of the box and Ramsdale made a fine save from Haaland. It was brilliant and breathless.
Neither side deserved to lose but at least Grealish’s goal was worthy of winning the game. After Gabriel lost the ball in his own half, City worked it from Haaland to Ilkay Gundogan on the edge of the box. He let the ball run to Grealish, who swept it past Ramsdale with the help of a slight but critical deflection from poor Tomiyasu.
City put the game out of reach eight minutes from time when another swift interchange of passes between Gundogan and De Bruyne moved the ball to Haaland six yards out. He took a touch and poked it past Ramsdale.