There was several news yesterday at the Emirates. The first and most tangible was Arsenal’s victory (1-0) over Manchester City, which had defeated them in the last twelve Premier games. The result reaffirms the candidacy that the team coached by Mikel Arteta had presented last season to once again compete for the championship, but it also opens a race that appears more open because it is very evident that City is working at home. Tottenham is the leader, tied on points with the gunners. And the second break for the national teams is reached with six teams in the lead, barely separated by four points; Liverpool, Brighton and Aston Villa are also raising their hopes.
1
David Raya, Gabriel, William Saliba, Ben White, Zinchenko (Takehiro Tomiyasu (74 mins), Jorginho (Thomas (75 mins), Odegaard, Declan Rice (Martinelli (45 mins), Trossard (Martinelli), Eddie Nketiah (Kai Havertz, 45 mins); min. 75) and Gabriel Jesus
0
Ederson Moraes, Gvardiol, Aké, Rúben Dias, Walker, Kovacic (Matheus, min. 68), Bernardo Silva, Rico Lewis (John Stones, min. 67), Foden, Erling Braut Haaland and Julián Álvarez (Jeremy Doku, min. 68 )
Goals 1-0 min. 86: Martinelli.
Referee Michael Oliver
Yellow cards Jorginho (min. 10), Bernardo Silva (min. 22), Kovacic (min. 28) and Ederson Moraes (min. 93)
Arsenal won with a last goal from Martinelli, a stroke of fortune because the Brazilian’s shot was poisoned by a defender’s touch to mislead Ederson, but also the reward for Arsenal’s strength, which went even further in a match without hardly any shots between sticks. That is why there was no news from the gunboat Haaland.
It all happened amid the usual frenzy at the Emirates, where the fencing between Arteta and Guardiola was unleashed from several knots that led to the outcome. The first of them had to do with high pressure, especially that exerted by City. There the spotlight shone on David Raya, the Spanish goalkeeper hired by the Basque coach not without controversy, because Aaron Ramsdale had saved his team on more than one occasion thanks to his feline saves. But Arteta wants something more from a goalkeeper, he demands the ability to combine with his defense or to find the free man with precision. Raya, who also has hands, offers that value. And that’s where Arsenal’s plan begins. At City they knew it and rushed from the start like tigers to put pressure on him.
That’s where the champion entered the game better, bold, eager to go get the ball in the Arsenal area, a finisher because first Declan Rice had to save an attempt by Gvardiol from under the sticks and shortly after Aké was about to beat Raya . He suffered the goalkeeper in that opening until his teammates adjusted better to offer him exits. It seemed less like Arsenal in that staging that at times silenced London’s Emirates.
Arteta was missing Bukayo Saka, one of his best footballers. But Guardiola had to take on the challenge of replacing Rodri, his pyramidal axis. The Spanish midfielder did not play in the last four games in which City ended up defeated. The last three took place in the last week; Newcastle in the League Cup and Wolves in the Premier were the prelude to the knockout in London. The previous fiasco occurred in a procedure against Brentford with the last league already won and the focus on the Champions League final in which Rodri was decisive. If a fifth defeat is sought, we would have to go back to February. In between there were 38 matches without losing.
Rodri is, in some way, the beginning and the end at City, so Guardiola made a decision full of coherence: if someone should replace him, it should be the second best player on the team, so he gave the handle to Bernardo Silva, He is so good that in the last Premier match against Arsenal he had triumphed as a left back.
Bernardo was escorted by Kovacic, who flirted with expulsion in a couple of attacks with his studs in front of him in search of other people’s ankles, and the excellent Rico Lewis, one of those footballers who guards the ball as if it were a jewel. The mix gave flight to City and especially possession. Arsenal, on the other hand, pursued it and found it after the break, when they adjusted the pressure better.
Guardiola maneuvered to shield himself after a threatening performance by Arsenal, which had already called Martinelli. Stones and Nunes came in to work in the midfield. Bernardo gained meters. But City was already in trouble. Defeat hit him when he was looking for a draw and somehow it took him to the couch. As a consolation he has the return of Rodri, ready to return to put order in the circulation.
Meanwhile, Arteta can now say that he has beaten the 24 teams he has come across in the Premier League. City was missing and in the eighth, he managed to defeat Guardiola.
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