Nathan Ake scored the only goal of the game to help Man City produce one of the narrow football scores of the weekend in the FA Cup. A strong City XI failed to find a way through until defender Ake sent the ball into the bottom corner (64) after substitute Julian Alvarez had struck a post as Mikel Arteta emphasized Arsenal’s title challenge with his side selection. Leandro Trossard stood out in his first Arsenal start, and the half ended with John Stones appearing to pull his hamstring. Guardiola didn’t seem too pleased with his team’s first-half effort. But while the home team narrowly prevailed, City’s head coach eventually defeated his old helper Arteta.
City will now be the favorites to win this match and add to their six FA Cup victories with a second under Guardiola after a shocking elimination to Southampton in the Carabao Cup. The fifth round draw will take place on Monday, with matches beginning the week of February 27. Even though it was far from the thrilling match Arsenal had played against Manchester United, who are City’s neighbors, last weekend, it increased the intrigue surrounding their upcoming Premier League matchup because February 15 has been marked as a crucial day for determining who will win the 2022–23 championship.
Before the game, Roy Keane referred to Arteta’s side selection as “a tremendous gamble” and criticized the number of defense changes the Arsenal head coach made in response to concerns that a humiliating loss might affect the Gunners’ outlook on their Premier League season. Arsenal supporters will recall how a weak team’s cup loss to Manchester United ended a title challenge in the 2007–2008 season. Despite Rob Holding being forced to be replaced at halftime after his aggressive pursuit of Erling Haaland resulted in a booking and him treading a thin line in terms of discipline in the closing minutes of the first half, the reorganized visitors were well-prepared.
He had done well to keep City’s leading scorer to an ambitious acrobatic effort and lob over the bar in the opening 45 minutes, but Arteta may have been thinking back to the north London derby from the previous season when Holding was sent off during a costly loss. Before the break, City’s Kevin De Bruyne came closest, twisting a stunning shot beyond the post. However, Arsenal was the team that really threatened during that time, and Trossard impressed as he set up Eddie Nketiah and Takehiro Tomiyasu while also putting Stefan Ortega to the test.
But it was City who finally broke through in the second half. Shortly after coming on, Alvarez sent a shot against the base of the post, and Jack Grealish spun and turned before supplying Ake, who neatly rolled the ball past Matt Turner. Oleksandr Zinchenko, who was playing for his previous team, was brought on by Arteta. Gabriel Martinelli and the Gunners nearly retaliated moments later when Granit Xhaka’s pass to Nketiah appeared to be going in just right before Stones’ replacement Aymeric Laporte sprinted in.
In the dying moments, Martinelli appeared to be Arsenal’s best chance to score, but the 14-time FA Cup champions were helpless to recover. For the ensuing weeks until European play starts, their primary focus will be on the Premier League, while City envisions domestic triumph on other fronts.
“They are a very challenging foe, man to man. We understood it was difficult to make the process because the goalkeeper was our guy free, but Kyle and Bernardo’s assistance was crucial in helping us to better control the game and play long balls,” Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola said.
“We are dissatisfied. Although the game was really close and contested, an action ended it before we could have gained much more from it. Sadly, we have to leave. In the second half, we had a good deal of control and great opportunities to win the game, but we failed to accomplish so,” Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta said.
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