Arsenal faced off against Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium earlier this evening looking to pull off an upset on the road. The Gunners remained firm and defended valiantly in the early goings of the game but were forced to make a couple of early substitutions because of injuries. David Luiz came off the bench and committed a nightmare defensive error when his fluffed clearance saw the ball fall in the path of Raheem Sterling who made no mistake from a tight angle which handed Man City the lead just before the stroke of half-time.
It was Luiz again who was guilty of making another careless error early in the second half when he brought down Riyad Mahrez inside his penalty box. The referee awarded a penalty to the home side and gave the Brazilian a deserved red card. Kevin De Bruyne buried the resulting spot-kick in the 51st minute and made the points secure for his team. Phil Foden found the back of the net in injury-time to cap off a fine 3-0 win against the Gunners.
Let’s take a look at how each Arsenal player performed during the match against the Citizens.
GK: Bernd Leno – 8/10
The German keeper made several important stops to keep his side level in the first half. However, all of his good work was undone by two calamitous mistakes by Luiz in either side of the half-time break. He was by far the best Arsenal player on the field.
RB: Hector Bellerin – 6/10
The Spanish full-back put in a decent shift down the right flank but got undone by Sterling on a couple of instances during the game.
CB: Pablo Mari – NA
He picked a suspected hamstring injury midway into the first half and was replaced by Luiz.
CB: Shkodran Mustafi – 5/10
The 28-year-old looked lazy at times as he was guilty of not tracking the opposition’s runs behind the Arsenal defence. He will be hoping for better days with the Gunners.
LB: Kieran Tierney – 6/10
The ex-Celtic left-back worked hard in the first 45 minutes and did well to play as a makeshift centre-back after Luiz’s dismissal in the 49th minute.
CM: Granit Xhaka – NA
The Swiss international had to go off after eight minutes due to an ankle injury.
CM: Matteo Guendouzi – 5/10
He worked his socks off at the centre of the park in the first 45. However, Guendouzi ran out of the gas after the hour mark before being subbed out by Arteta.
CAM: Joe Willock – 5/10
The English starlet was given the freedom to attack at will in the opposition half but failed to create anything of note in the final third.
RM: Eddie Nketiah – 6/10
The Gunners attacker showed high energy to make some penetrative runs out on the wide areas. However, Nketiah failed to bury any of the goal-scoring chances that fell in his path.
LM: Bukayo Saka – 5/10
He had a few bright moments in what was an overall lacklustre display from him down the wings.
ST: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang – 4/10
The Gabonese striker was marked entirely out of the match by the Man City defenders. He had a quiet game and did not even register a shot on-target.
Substitutes:
CM: Dani Ceballos – 6/10
The Spaniard had to come off the bench in the 8th minute to replace Xhaka. He showed a few exciting touches on the ball but struggled to influence the game in the attacking half.
CB: David Luiz – 1/10
The Brazilian came off the bench in the first half and had a tough time dealing with the pace of the Man City attacks. Luiz was at fault in the lead-up to Raheem Sterling’s first-half stoppage-time goal. To make things worse, he conceded a cheap penalty and was given his marching orders for bringing down Riyad Mahrez inside his penalty box. It was another disastrous showing from him today.
ST: Alexandre Lacazette – 4/10
The French striker made a promising run in the dying embers of the contest but couldn’t pick out Nelson with his weak pass.
CM: Ainsley Maitland-Niles – 5/10
He came on to provide some energy in midfield, but it was too little too late for Arsenal by then.
RM: Reiss Nelson – 5/10
He was mostly chasing the Man City players but could not influence the game going forward.
