Erling Haaland continued his goal-scoring form to help Man City produce one of the most comfortable football scores of the weekend in the Premier League. Erling Haaland’s 26th goal of the season and a goal from Jack Grealish in the 72nd and 82nd minutes, respectively, secured a victory for Pep Guardiola’s team in a thrilling match that lived up to its hype at the Emirates Stadium. Earlier, Bukayo Saka’s penalty (42), awarded after Ederson was adjudged to have fouled Eddie Nketiah, had canceled out a goal by Kevin De Bruyne (24), who had scored after a weak Takehiro Tomiyasu backpass resulted in a stunning first-time finish over Aaron Ramsdale.
Despite having a strong start and playing without Thomas Partey due to a muscle injury, Arsenal deserved to draw level, but recent blunders against Everton and Brentford gave City the advantage. The loss brings Arsenal’s winless streak to three games and shifts the momentum in favor of a City team that appears to have been inspired by the accusations made against them by the Premier League. Despite having played one more game, they top the standings on goal differential.
Following the VAR error that enabled Ivan Toney’s equalizer to stand in Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Brentford, Arsenal entered the game feeling a burning sense of injustice. This sentiment could be felt in the stadium, with the home fans creating a crackling environment. Despite Partey’s absence, Jorginho made his full debut for Arsenal. After surviving a nervous moment when Haaland decided to cross rather than shoot from a Riyad Mahrez cross, the hosts created the game’s first real scoring opportunity when Nketiah headed Oleksandr Zinchenko’s diagonal cross wastefully wide.
City was given a break, and they ruthlessly took advantage of it within two minutes. At right-back, where Tomiyasu was preferred to Ben White, Ramsdale received Tomiyasu’s short backpass, which De Bruyne snuck in and beautifully lifted over the stranded goalie. A few minutes later, Tomiyasu had another opportunity to redeem himself at the other end when a deflected cross landed on him in the City box, but his initial shot went over the crossbar.
The hosts’ outstanding response to being behind resulted in Saka missing a wonderful opportunity from Martin Odegaard’s slide-rule ball when he delayed his shot, allowing Nathan Ake to block. City attempted to disturb Arsenal’s flow by stalling over goal kicks and throw-ins. However, Arsenal would not have to wait long for their chance, nor would Saka, who was giving temporary left-back Bernardo Silva a difficult time on the hosts’ right flank.
When Ake appeared to have cleared Nketiah’s diagonal shot off the line, the referee pointed to the spot and determined that Ederson had fouled the Arsenal striker as he struck the ball. After a protracted delay, Saka displayed amazing poise to step up and defeat Ederson, who thankfully for City avoided receiving a second yellow card after being previously cautioned for the excessive delay. After the goal, there was a huge celebration, but the game went back and forth at a frantic pace. Just before halftime, Rodri’s header off Ake and onto the top of the bar was inches away from giving City a second goal.
The fact that City started to dominate play after the interval may have been a harbinger of things to come. Arsenal received a reprieve when VAR overruled a penalty that Haaland had gained when he collided with Gabriel Magalhaes for offside. When a few near escapes, including a great save from Ramsdale after Haaland had gotten in behind, Guardiola’s squad finally scored their second as City kept the hosts at bay. When Gabriel turned the ball over to Arsenal in his own half, it was another error by the Gunners, but what City did next was absolutely clinical. They quickly played the ball out to Grealish, whose low finish took a tiny deflection from Tomiyasu to find the back of the net.
Haaland, who had been cleared to play after having an injury scare during City’s 3-1 victory over Villa, then put the game away. The Norwegian forward expertly handled De Bruyne’s cut-back before putting his 26th Premier League goal of the season low over Ramsdale and into the far corner. Nketiah headed another attempt wide for Arsenal as they continued to battle, but by that moment, it was too late. City’s experience and clinical edge were the deciding factors in a fascinating match that could have an impact on the Premier League title race.
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