Manchester City 3-0 Arsenal: Raheem Sterling opens up the scoring on Premier League’s return
It was quite the hat-trick for David Luiz. At fault for the first goal, gave away the penalty for the second goal, and sent-off. Given his contract expires in June, this may well be his farewell appearance for Arsenal. It’s been quite the ride.
Much as it was for Mikel Arteta, returning to the Etihad Stadium for the first time since being prised away from Pep Guardiola’s side.
His old friend greeted him with a hearty pat on the back and then remembered he was supposed to be social distancing. Everyone else got an elbow bump, and then the slap in the chops that usually follows when two teams are as poorly matched as this.
Raheem Sterling set Manchester City on their way against Arsenal when he gave them the lead shortly before half-time
Sterling pointed to the sky in celebration after sending City into the lead at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday night
David Luiz was shown a red card by referee Antony Taylor following his poorly timed challenge on Riyad Mahrez
City’s creative spark Kevin De Bruyne dispatches his penalty with pace, sending it into the bottom left corner of Leno’s goal
Phil Foden completed City’s comprehensive beating of Arsenal when he carefully swept home in stoppage time
If Manchester City lose, Liverpool could win the league at Everton on Saturday. That was the pre-game narrative. Fat chance of that. After a cagey opening half hour, understandable given the circumstances, City swept Arsenal aside.
Manchester City could have led by four at half-time and, when they didn’t, Luiz intervened to ensure justice was done. In many ways, sending him off 25 minutes after his introduction as a substitute was more of a punishment for City. It would have hurt Arsenal further to keep him on.
Luiz was a player, once. He was outstanding the year Chelsea won the league under Antonio Conte. He had some wonderful moments under other managers at Stamford Bridge, too – not least as a Champions League winner in Munich. The player Arsenal bought, however – in a rush, on the cheap – had become sloppy almost to the point of self-parody. After Bernd Leno had fought so hard to keep Arsenal in the game, Luiz let him down, badly.
It was always going to be difficult as Arsenal’s centre gave way. Granit Xhaka suffered an injury after five minutes and left the field on a stretcher after eight, Pablo Mari followed on 24 minutes, a casualty of trying to keep pace with Kyle Walker. This brought Luiz into play and, with him, Arsenal’s downfall.
The pressure was mounting. Walker had signalled City’s danger, sprinting down the right, before cutting the ball back perfectly for Riyad Mahrez, who dummied it for a better placed team-mate. Unfortunately, there wasn’t one. Nobody was in a better position to open the scoring than the man who chose to leave the ball alone.
From there, City moved swiftly through the gears. In the 34th minute, Raheem Sterling cut inside from the left and forced a fine low save from Leno. Then a lovely passing move ended with David Silva calling the goalkeeper into action again.
In the 37th minute, Silva found De Bruyne – this is the type of player Arsenal thought they had bought in Mesut Ozil, by the way – who put Mahrez in, Leno frustrating him one on one. Finally, completing a five minute spell that could have seen City four goals ahead, De Bruyne played perhaps the pass of the night to set Sterling clear.
The finish, however, was fancy – Sterling attempted an up and down chip of the type Lionel Messi has made his own. There is a reason it has become the preserve of the greatest footballer in the world, however. Sterling did the up part, but not the down, and the ball flew over Leno – and the bar.
As what happened in Aston Villa’s match against Sheffield United, players and official took a knee at the start of the game
A minute’s silence was also observed to remember those who have lost their lives during the coronavirus pandemic
Arsenal’s Granit Xhaka left the pitch on a stretcher in the early stages after going over on his ankle after tracking back
A Manchester City official sprays one of the corner flags at the Etihad Stadium with disinfectant ahead of Wednesday’s game
City put a screen behind the goal with images of their supporters watching the Premier League champions from home
Having tried his luck on several occasions hitting perfect passes to team-mates without success, De Bruyne changed tack. Maybe he would get more joy working with Arsenal’s Luiz. Plan B was a beauty.
De Bruyne struck a pass from the right by-line straight at the defender, thigh high. It should have been simply cut out but he failed to get into the right position, and the ball caught a deflection instead, slowing it down slightly but failing to halt its path to Sterling.
He had time, and could have complicated his finish again. Thankfully, he went at this one old school, leathering the ball with all his might from close range to give Leno no chance.
It was the last significant event of the first half, and the first major one of the second saw Luiz and Arsenal done.
These days, football shies away from the award of a penalty and a red card unless a referee judges a player to have behaved particularly recklessly. We can presume, then, that Anthony Taylor took a very dim view of Luiz’s 49th-minute antics.
Having lost Mahrez to a move begun by a thumping long ball from goalkeeper Ederson, Luiz had several good goes at taking him out before the City man tumbled to the ground. The penalty was never in doubt, even if some felt the red card was harsh. No matter. What remained was a formality. De Bruyne put the ball right, Leno went left.
It was only a two-goal lead, just four minutes into the second half, but Arsenal might as well already have been on their bus back to Liverpool Airport. Still, at least some were enjoying it. ‘We’re by far the greatest team the world has ever seen,’ Arsenal’s fake fans crowed, on seeing this development. Someone at mission control has a sense of humour.
City midfielder Kevin De Bruyne goes to ground as he attempts to win the ball back from Arsenal’s Kieran Tierney
Ilkay Gundogan receives instructions from City manager Pep Guardiola during the first half of the match against Arsenal
Sterling got his right-footed shot away ahead of the advancing Shkodran Mustafi and it flew past goalkeeper Bernd Leno
City forward Sterling runs off to celebrate after scoring the first Premier League goal since the 2019-20 season restarted
It was in injury time that City gave the scoreline the distance it deserved. Sergio Aguero, on as a substitute, played a fine one-two with Sterling, before hitting a post, but Phil Foden was unsurprisingly quicker to react than any Arsenal defender, claiming his first league goal of the season.
So Liverpool will have to do it the hard way, it seems. This has not been the best title defence from City but there were no gifts on offer at the Etihad.
Ederson even brutally took out his own defender Eric Garcia with 10 minutes remaining, trying to repel a ball over the top from Leno. It was a misjudged moment, obviously, but it showed the commitment noticeably missing at Arsenal.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is Arsenal’s marquee attraction, but played on Wednesday night as if he had one eye on a different game, and probably a different club, too. He ran a little, in search of goals, which is the least a striker can do – but on occasions when the pursuit would take him into physical conflict with an opponent, the speed seemed to leak from his legs.
Algeria international Riyad Mahrez goes down in the Arsenal penalty area under a clumsy challenge by defender Luiz
De Bruyne celebrates after doubling City’s lead which left them comfortably in control of the game at the Etihad Stadium
There was plenty of concern on the pitch when City goalkeeper Ederson clattered into defensive team-mate Eric Garcia
The reason Arsenal went to such great lengths to prise Arteta from Manchester City was because they want some of that Guardiola stardust. They desire his artistry, his beauty, his style. Yet they don’t want to pay for it, as Manchester City did; and their players don’t work hard for it, as Guardiola’s do. So it is difficult to see how they will ever achieve it; unless Arteta is a genius.
Yet even genius has its limits. What could even Guardiola at his most imaginative achieve given the players at Arteta’s disposal? Pepe, the big ticket summer signing that former manager Unai Emery didn’t exactly want, couldn’t make the starting XI or find a way on as one of five subs; Ozil, the highest paid player in the club’s history, couldn’t even find a seat on the bench.
City may have their own problems, depending on the verdict of the Court of Arbitration for Sport, but Arsenal are nowhere near taking advantage if they are banned from Europe. Arteta is a good man, but Arsenal look as far from the Champions League elite as at any time this century.
