Arsenal lost the match against Manchester City, but what could fans take away from this match? theSportsRush find 5 talking points from Arsenal vs Man City.
Defending champions Manchester City got underway in the perfect manner this evening with a 2-0 win over Arsenal. Pep Guardiola dominated his Spanish counterpart Unai Emery completely at the Emirates Stadium. Raheem Sterling and Bernardo Silva were the goal getters for Manchester City where several players rested. Meanwhile, Arsenal were far from poor. Let us have a look at five things learnt from this fixture.
Petr Cech is past his best– Manchester City scored two wonderfully taken goals at the Emirates Stadium this season. Raheem Sterling danced away from three defenders before slotting the ball in while Bernardo Silva thumped a shot from approximately twelve yards. Petr Cech had enough time to reach out for both of the shots but the Czech made no effort to do so. It was clearly visible that he was rooted to the spot as the goals flew in.
Pep Guardiola’s team is even more promising – The Citizens looked even more promising today. Their players looked as hungry as last season and exchanged the ball around with the same desire at 2017/18. Not a single City player on the pitch was relaxed by looking back at the past one year. The squad is much lethal this season with the developments of Benjamin Mendy and Bernardo Silva in particular.
Nobody is a guaranteed starter at City– Pep Guardiola fielded a strong team, yet one that was unpredictable. Leroy Sane and Kevin De Bruyne were incoming substitutes while the likes of Vincent Kompany and David Silva did not even feature. This is a signal of nobody being a sure shot starter at Manchester City, irrespective of his quality and legendary status. Pep will give everybody a chance.
Arsenal need to sort their attack– Arsenal’s attacking trio of Ozil, Aubameyang and Mkhitaryan looks good on paper, but couldn’t deliver. Mesut Ozil played too deep, and the former Dortmund-duo of Aubameyang and Mkhitaryan couldn’t enjoy much of the ball throughout the match. Unai Emery needs to focus on how to utilise his three best attackers in an efficient manner.
Unai Emery will bring a new identity to Arsenal– Arsenal underwent a managerial change for over two decades. Unai Emery was brought in to replace Arsene Wenger. The Basque manager made numerous signings to strengthen the Arsenal team. Today, they looked quite good in the game. Yet unfortunately, they dropped all three points thanks to defensive errors, especially lack of effort from their goalkeeper. It will be fantastic to see how things pan out against smaller opposition and other teams. Pep’s test was early for Emery’s team to be honest.
