YOU CAN’T DEFEND LIKE THIS

BOTH Arsenal and Manchester City have an achilles heel defensively. Pep Guardiola has said that he is ‘not a coach for the tackles’ while Arsene Wenger’s philosophy is to attack. There were mistakes which led to all four goals at the Emirates. Bad positioning from Hector Bellerin allowed Leroy Sane to score Manchester City’s first. At this level when players are blessed with as much pace as you they will punish you if you do not

get into position quickly enough. It was far too easy for Arsenal to draw level. Twice City should have cleared but Theo Walcott was able to stab the ball in. Having scored, Arsenal needed

to keep their shape. Instead they were too excitable, became ragged and were behind 131 seconds later. City had a better structure but will not have been happy with the way they defended the corner from which Shkodran Mustafi equalised. If Guardiola is going to win this league, City need to stop giving away cheap goals. Chelsea and Tottenham are the sides with the best balance — and they occupy the top two places in the table.