Thursday, February 16, 2023

Defeating Arsenal at the Emirates, Man City rose to the top in the Premier League

Man City proved the bravery of the defending champion when defeating Arsenal 3-1 at the Emirates Stadium, with this result, the Green Man surpassed the Gunners to take the top spot in the rankings.

Final: Arsenal 1-3 Man City

Scorer: Arsenal: Saka (42'); Man City: De Bruyne (24'), Grealish (72'), Haaland (82')

After a period of sublimation, Arsenal is showing signs of slowing down. The proof is that the last 3 rounds in the English Premier League they did not win. The Gunners lost 0-1 to Man City in the fourth round of the FA Cup, then lost 0-1 to Everton away and drew 1-1 against Brentford at home in the Premier League. Mikel Arteta's teachers and students are still leading in the highest English football league this season, but the gap with the 2nd ranked team Man City has been shortened to only 3 points.

Arsenal are playing at home to Man City in the round 12 of the Premier League, the Gunners are not allowed to lose in this match. Because if they lose the match, they will lose the top spot to the Blue Man, and at the same time face great psychological pressure. In contrast, victory over Arsenal will help Man City get the first place. Although kicking 1 more match than the opponent, but definitely 3 points get to help the stars of Blue Man have a huge psychological advantage in the race to the championship. 

Even though they have to play away, Pep Guardiola's teachers and students are still appreciated a bit more. In terms of head-to-head record, Blue Man is completely superior to Arsenal. Accordingly, in the last 6 matches, Man City's winning record is 100%. In the last 3 matches as a guest at Emirates Stadium, Man City won all, scored 6 goals and received only 2 goals. On the bench, Pep is also more prominent than Mikel Arteta.

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Both teams put out the strongest possible lineup. On the Arsenal side, coach Arteta used a 4-3-3 formation with Gabriel Martinelli playing alongside Eddie Nketiah and Bukayo Saka in attack. As such, Leandro Trossard continues to be on the bench, despite scoring in the 1-1 draw against Brentford last week. In midfield, Martin Odegaard, Jorginho and Granit Xhaka will be used. Unexpectedly, Thomas Partey was not on the squad, perhaps he was absent due to injury.

In the defense of the home team, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Takehiro Tomiyasu were selected on the flanks, while William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes played the central defense pairing. In the wooden frame, Aaron Ramsdale is still an irreplaceable choice at the moment.   

On the other side of the line, Pep Guardiola uses a 3-2-4-1 formation with Erling Haaland kicking the highest in attack. The Norwegian picked up a thigh injury in the 3-1 win over Aston Villa, but the number 9 has returned to training and started playing at Emirates Stadium. Playing behind the player born in 2000 is a quartet of Jack Grealish, Kevin de Bruyne, İlkay Gundogan and Riyad Mahrez. In midfield, Bernardo Silva plays alongside Rodri. In defense, Pep used Nathan Ake, Ruben Dias and Kyle Walker in front of goalkeeper Ederson. 

As expected, the match took place immediately after the opening whistle. In the second minute, Arsenal had their first chance. From a quick counter-attack, Saka finished in the box but the ball hit a blue shirt player, Granit Xhaka was there to make a kick but the ball went over the bar of Ederson. In the 12th minute, Arsenal had one more shot. This time Saka was the one to finish, but the ball continued to fail to pass the Man City defender. 

It took until 16 minutes for Man City to have the first chance. Riyad Mahrez had the ball in the home team's penalty area, he made a click to completely eliminate Arsenal's defense, creating an opportunity for Erling Haaland to cross the finish line. But in the already too narrow corner, the number 9 did not take the kick, instead he made a cross, but no blue shirt player had time to cross the ball. After nearly 20 minutes of play, Arsenal had 3 shots and Man City still had no kick. 

22 minutes, the most obvious opportunity from the beginning of the game appeared, and it belonged to Arsenal. Oleksandr Zinchenko made a very flexible cross, the ball completely eliminated the Man City defense, creating an opportunity for Eddie Nketiah to head from close range. Although he was not accompanied by any player, the Arsenal striker headed the ball over the post in a very unfortunate way.

Only 2 minutes after the missed situation of Eddie Nketiah, Man City opened the scoring. 24 minutes, from the kick from Ederson's home side, the ball came to Takehiro Tomiyasu's position. Under pressure from Jack Gealish, the Japanese player returned the ball to goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale. However, the return was too short and Kevin de Bruyne sped up before making contact with the home keeper, his delicate finish put the ball past Ramsdale's reach, giving City the lead. . 

In the 28th minute, Takehiro Tomiyasu had the opportunity to take the blame but could not take advantage. The situation of Gabriel Martinelli's shot sent the ball to hit a Man City player, the ball went to the position of the Japanese player, but he ended up sending the ball over the crossbar. Two minutes later Arsenal had another chance. This time Saka had a chance to shoot from a tight corner, but he was too slow to let the opportunity pass. 

After Man City opened the scoring, they actively slowed down. Even goalkeeper Ederson had to receive a yellow card in the 36th minute due to a time error. Arsenal are very impatient, but they cannot speed up the game before the close play of the away team. Even if in a hurry, the home team can completely receive more goals. 

Attacking the deadlock Arsenal suddenly got the equalizer. In the 41st minute, from a teammate's pass, Eddie Nketiah escaped before bouncing the ball over goalkeeper Ederson's head, fortunately Nathan Ake had time to break the ball right on the goal line. However, the referee suddenly pointed at the 11m mark to the surprise of the Man City players. The referee thinks that Ederson fouled Nketiah when he came out to save. Although the away team players reacted violently, the referee did not change the decision. On the 11m mark, Bukayo Saka fooled Ederson to equalize the score 1-1.

The first half had 6 minutes of extra time. In the 5th minute of injury time, Man City was awarded a direct free kick. The ball was hung in the Arsenal penalty area, Ruben Dias headed the ball and hit Nathan Ake, the ball then bounced off the crossbar. Fortunately, Arsenal did not concede a goal in this situation. It was also the last remarkable situation in the first half. Both Arsenal and Man City had chances in the first half and they both scored. 

At the beginning of the second half, the Man City players gathered on the home team's field, the Green Man is determined to win right at the Emirates Stadium. However, Arsenal are also playing tight defence. They are also very quick to execute counter-attacks at high speed. In the 55th minute, Saka released the ball for Jorginho to finish right in front of the Man City penalty area. However, the Italian's kick was too light and goalkeeper Ederson fell to embrace the ball. 

In the 57th minute, the second referee pointed at the 11m mark, this time Man City was the beneficiary. Gabriel Magalhaes had a situation to pull Erling Haaland down in the box, and the penalty was for the visitors. However, after consulting VAR the referee decided to change the decision, no 11m for Man City. The reason was because Haaland was in an offside position. He was below Gabriel Magalhaes before the two had a dispute in the box. 

In the 67th minute, Arsenal opened up a chance from a quick counterattack. The ball was stretched horizontally from the edge to the center, 2 red shirt players joined in, but no one touched the ball. After 1 minute, Man City was awarded a free kick, De Bruyne had an uncomfortable ball into the penalty area of ​​the home team. There have been 2 shots from the blue players, first Rodri's kick was saved by Aaron Ramsdale, then Manuel Akanji kicked but the Arsenal defender cleared the ball right on the line.  

After 72 minutes, Gabriel Magalhaes' mistake helped Man City get the second goal. The Brazilian player failed to pass right in front of the home team's penalty area, Erling Haaland received the ball from his teammates, he did not finish but switched to Gundogan. The German midfielder then released the ball within range for Jack Grealish to make a decisive kick that made Aaron Ramsdale unstoppable. This is the first goal of the former Aston Villa star against Arsenal. 

After the goal, Arsenal put the squad to find an equalizer. Leandro Trossard was brought on to replace Gabriel Martinelli. In the 79th minute, Kyle Walker cut down Trossard in the penalty area, but the referee did not give the home team another 11m penalty. In the 81st minute, the Blue Man had a third goal. Gundogan made a pass to let De Bruyne escape before releasing the ball smoothly to help Erling Haaland finish delicately to raise the score to 3-1. Victory is almost certainly in the hands of the away team. 

In the 89th minute, Bukayo Saka crossed the ball to Eddie Nketiah's header from close range, but there were no more goals for Arsenal. The second half had 5 minutes of injury time, the home team played hard but could not turn the situation around. The 3-1 victory belonged to Man City, with this result they overcame Arsenal to take the top spot. The two teams are equal on points, but the Blue Man is ranked above because of more than the sub-index, but it should be remembered that the Gunners still kick less than the blue half of Manchester 1 match. 

Squad

Arsenal: Aaron Ramsdale; Oleksandr Zinchenko, William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhaes, Takehiro Tomiyasu; Martin Odegaard, Jorginho, Granit Xhaka; Gabriel Martinelli, Eddie Nketiah, Bukayo Saka

Man City: Ederson; Nathan Ake, Ruben Dias, Kyle Walker; Bernardo Silva, Rodri; Jack Grealish, Kevin de Bruyne, İlkay Gundogan, Riyad Mahrez; Erling Haaland

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