The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Night to forget for Luiz as City cruise past Gunners
Arsenal substitute sees red after errors lead to goals at eerie Etihad Stadium
MANCHESTER CITY 3 ARSENAL 0
City returned from the coronavirus suspension with a bang as substitute David Luiz’s rustiness cost Arsenal and delayed Liverpool’s title celebrations.
After ‘Project Restart’ began with a scoreless draw between Aston Villa and Sheffield United, there was plenty to talk about as the Etihad Stadium witnessed the first Premier League goals in 100 days.
City emerged 3-0 victors against Arsenal, who had Scotland full-back Kieren Tierney back in the starting line-up, in front of empty stands.
Pep Guardiola comfortably overcame former assistant Mikel Arteta, who saw substitute Luiz unravel as he gave away goals either side of half-time and got sent off.
The result meant Jurgen Klopp’s men cannot seal the title at Everton this weekend.
Luiz’s disastrous display came on a night of three serious-looking injuries, with the Brazilian replacing Pablo Mari in a match book-ended by Granit Xhaka and Eric Garcia leaving on stretchers.
The Brazil international may well have wished he stayed on the padded, social-distanced bench after undoing Bernd Leno’s good work by failing to deal with a ball that Raheem Sterling fired home late in the first half.
Things got worse for Luiz shortly after the restart. After receiving a red card for bringing down Riyad Mahrez in the box, Kevin De Bruyne slotted home the spotkick and substitute Phil Foden scored late on to rub salt into Arsenal’s wounds.
This was football but not how we knew it in March. Social distancing was in operation as the top-flight resumed, with the stadium split into zones, hygiene stations dotted everywhere and banners replacing fans in the stands.
It was a surreal experience inside the Etihad Stadium, where the 300 or so in attendance fell silent before kick-off to remember City great Glyn Pardoe and those impacted by Covid-19 and the players knelt in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.
Arteta’s positive test was the catalyst for English football’s suspension in midmarch and former mentor Guardiola’s mother Dolors Sala Carrio died after contracting the disease.
Sterling told Sky Sports: “It’s been a confusing last couple of weeks, with no one knowing quite where we’re at but the lads were buzzing to be back at the stadium and on home turf we put in a good performance.
“We expected it to be weird, but the message since we came back from the break is we’ve got to find something in ourselves, we had to dig deep and I thought the boys kept composure and fought to the end.
“I think the first 10 (minutes) we were kind of getting used to the atmosphere, getting the cobwebs off but that after that we took our chances well.”