By Jason Burt
London: This time, Arsenal had no one to blame but themselves. They gifted champions Manchester City two goals and handed them the summit of the Premier League.
By the time the brilliant Erling Haaland sealed the victory with his 32nd goal of the season - he scared the life out of Arsenal as he bullied and terrorised their defence into errors - it felt ominous.
Arsenal may only be behind on goal difference, they may also have a game in hand but, at times, this felt like men against boys which, in fairness, it was given the youth and relative inexperience of Mikel Arteta’s side.
City, in a dominant second-half performance, not just claimed the precious win but quietened the Arsenal crowd, who have been such a driving force.
It is now four games without a win for Arsenal and two of them have been defeats by City, who knocked them out of the FA Cup in the first game of that run, which now feels like a psychological blow.
This was also a tactical master-class from Pep Guardiola, who schooled Arteta by matching up and then, when City were in the ascendancy, switched formations and went for the jugular.
Jack Grealish celebrates after scoring City’s second.Credit: Getty
It felt the margins were so tight, that it might take something special or catastrophic or opportunistic to make the breakthrough - and so it proved to be all three.
City’s first goal also came seconds after Arsenal should have taken the lead. As Oleksandr Zinchenko swung the ball in from the left, Eddie Nketiah rose well but steered his header across goal and wide. He surely had to score. A genuine top striker would have.
It felt like it could be costly and so it proved. But not as costly as the error by Takehiro Tomiyasu. Under pressure from Jack Grealish, after William Saliba’s mistimed header, he woefully underhit a back-pass. Kevin De Bruyne seized on it and in flash, on the second bounce, struck a wonderful first-time shot with his left foot that arced beautifully over Aaron Ramsdale and just inside his right-hand post. What a finish and what a way to claim his first goal since October.
As ever with Guardiola in a big game there was a tactical tweak, a surprise but even by his standards this was a new one: Bernardo Silva at left-back when City were out of possession.
It effectively meant that neither team had a left-back - given Zinchenko also pushed into midfield - as they matched themselves up in a strangely symmetrical way which reflected how close they are in the league.
The bear-pit atmosphere did not need stoking but Bernardo upending Bukayo Saka and Nathan Ake winning a free-kick, after he headed Nketiah’s foot, added to the sense of grievance Arsenal felt after last Saturday’s Var fiasco against Brentford.
The anger rose. Part of Bernardo’s role appeared to be to rap Saka on the ankles and he relished it, while Arsenal felt City were already wasting time. There was irritation at how long Ederson was taking for his goal-kicks (he was eventually booked); there was annoyance at how long City players stayed down after every challenge, it seemed, and there was plain fury at being behind.
It was replaced by euphoria. Nketiah raced onto a threaded pass and turned the ball past Ederson and, although Ake cleared it off the goal-line, a penalty was given by referee Anthony Taylor as the goalkeeper caught the forward.
City protested, surrounding Taylor, but were probably fortunate Ederson was not dismissed before Saka calmly stroked the spot-kick to bring Arsenal deservedly level. Ederson had tried to put Saka off by pointing to his right - with the penalty then placed in that corner.
But on half-time City almost restored their lead when Rodri met a free-kick, his downward header flicking against Ake’s ankle and rebounding off the crossbar before Ramsdale turned it over.
Tensions rose. Arteta was silly in kicking the ball away as De Bruyne tried to retrieve it for a throw-in and was pushed in the chest; inevitably Granit Xhaka involved himself in the kerfuffle.
Arsenal then had a reprieve after Haaland cleverly spun Gabriel Magalhaes, who hauled him to the turf inside the area. The penalty was given, but the decision was overturned for offside. This time Arsenal could give thanks to Var.
Guardiola shifted his team’s shape by sending on Manuel Akanji for a more traditional back four, which Bernardo freed up as they started to force Arsenal back. Zinchenko turned to the crowd, calling for more noise.
Nerves were fraying and it felt like a goal was coming. It arrived. Arsenal had been making too many mistakes and finally one counted as Gabriel passed the ball straight to Bernardo who picked out Haaland. On the run he squared to Ilkay Gundogan, who squared to the unmarked Grealish for a side-footed finish past Ramsdale. In fairness to the Arsenal goalkeeper, he was undone by a Tomiyasu deflection that took the ball over his arm.
Arsenal were shot. Their belief was drained and they conceded again. City carved through with Rodri, Gundogan and then De Bruyne pinging passes before creating space for Haaland. Unerringly he found the net. And, with that, the result was sealed.
Telegraph, London