Arsenal finally defeat City

Four substitutes combine for Arsenal as they snatch all three points at home to treble winners Manchester City with a late, deflected strike moving them to level on points with league leaders Tottenham heading into the two-week break.

LINEUPS

ARS XI: Raya; White, Saliba, Gabriel, Zinchenko; Odegaard*, Rice, Jorginho; Jesus, Nketiah, Trossard

ARS SUBS: Ramsdale, Kiwior, Tomiyasu, Partey, Vieira, Smith Rowe, Martinelli, Nelson, Havertz

MCI XI: Ederson; Walker*, Dias, Ake, Gvardiol; Lewis, Kovacic; Silva, Alvarez, Foden; Haaland

MCI SUBS: Ortega, Stones, Akanji, Gomez, Phillips, Nunes, Grealish, Doku, Bobb

Action: Manchester City started the better side and nearly opened the scoring early on with a corner met by Nathan Ake and his effort needing to be hooked off the line by Declan Rice as David Raya began shakily. Ake then had another opportunity a few moments later but blazed way over the bar.

Raya’s shaky and nervous start continued with several misplaced passes before close to an almighty howler when he took too long to make a decision on the ball, allowing for Julian Alvarez to close down and block the eventual clearance but his block only went into the side-netting as The Gunners’ home crowd expressed their frustration.

The biggest talking point of the first-half revolved around Mateo Kovacic. The Croatian midfielder launched himself into a sliding tackle on Martin Odegaard and he caught the Arsenal captain on his ankle with his studs showing. Michael Oliver gave a yellow and the VAR decided not to overturn that decision and upgrade it to a red.

Kovacic then, though, committed a similar foul on Rice, albeit with a little less ferocity, yet Oliver decided immediately that it was not worthy of a booking; which appeared a very bizarre and confused decision.

Gabriel Martinelli’s half-time introduction saw the hosts have an immediate added sense of urgency but very little by way of clearcut chances and the game continued to be as cagey as ever.

The good defensive displays of both sides led to a match very low on major chances or much attacking endeavour until five minutes from the end when Arsenal snuck into the lead.

A long ball forward from Thomas Partey found Takehiro Tomiyasu and the Japanese defender nodded down for Kai Havertz in the box. Havertz laid off cooly for the on-rushing Gabriel Martinelli to strike at goal and a huge deflection from Nathan Ake saw the ball divert past the helpless Ederson and put the reigning champions behind. 

Martinelli's goal from pitch side 🤩 pic.twitter.com/OkNBC1Zf7D

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) October 8, 2023

The big picture: Arsenal move to level on points with their north London rivals, Tottenham Hotspur, with Spurs sitting above Arsenal on goals scored ahead of the October international break. Manchester City are a further two points behind with Liverpool a point back from there after their 2-2 draw at Brighton earlier in the day. 

Man of the match: William Saliba. A few dominant moments from Saliba on Erling Braut Haaland early in the first-half was indicative of the rest of the match with the Frenchman putting in an excellent, marshalling defensive performance. 

Expected goals: Arsenal (0.42) 1-0 (0.65) Manchester City

EVENTS

Kick-off

Half-time

’55 | DISALLOWED: Lewis

’86 | GOAL: Martinelli (1-0)

Full-time