City beats Arsenal away from home and steals Premier League lead

The most anticipated duel of this season in England ended in a 3-1 victory for Manchester City against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium. City’s goals were scored by De Bruyne, Haaland and Grealish, while Saka scored for the home team.

The result gives Manchester City the interim lead, which reaches 51 points. Arsenal have the same 51 points, but have a lower goal difference and are now second in the table. However, the Gunners still have one game down and can regain top of the Premier League.

First time

The initial minutes of the confrontation were of many physical and divided duels, while the teams studied each other. The first big chance came from Eddie Nketiah’s header, after Zinchenko’s accurate cross. The English striker went up alone to finish with a header, but missed the target and wasted the opportunity.

In the 23rd minute of the game, winger Tomyasu barely backed the ball to Ramsdale and Kevin De Bruyne anticipated the goalkeeper. With a lot of category, the Belgian risked a kick from afar and opened the scoring of the confrontation.

In the final stretch of the first half, Nketiah received the ball in the area and shot as Ederson left, but Aké managed to take it on the goal line. However, at the time of the kick there was a collision between the goalkeeper and the striker, and the referee signaled the penalty. Bukayo Saka took the penalty and tied the match. In injury time, Rodri headed the crossbar and almost scored for City.

A first half in which City finished 4⃣ times, but had less possession of the ball, 40%.

We opened the scoring with a goal from @KevinDeBruynewhich covered up the goalkeeper.

Let’s get the 3 ⃣ points, City! 💙

🔴 1 x 1 🔵 #MCFCPortugues | #ARSMCI | https://t.co/JIQNttxQCn pic.twitter.com/sfPllR8mUj

— Manchester City (@ManCityPT) February 15, 2023

Second time

The match returned from the break and continued well balanced. At 9 minutes of the second stage, Haaland was brought down in the area by Gabriel Magalhães and the referee whistled the penalty. With the help of VAR, the penalty was annulled for offside.

Manchester City started to press the ball with more intensity and forced errors from Arsenal. At 23 minutes, Haaland came out in front of the goal and tried to dribble past goalkeeper Ramsdale, but the attacker lost control and wasted the chance.

Then, in the 26th minute, the Brazilian Gabriel Magalhães missed a pass in midfield and Haaland started a counterattack. The Norwegian passed to Gundogan on the edge of the area who rolled for Grealish to shoot down the left. The English winger kicked low, the ball deflected in defense and took away Ramsdale’s chances of defense. City in front.

In the 37th minute, City broke through on the right and Kevin de Bruyne received it in the area. The Belgian played for Haaland to send the corner of the goal and decree the victory against Arsenal by 3 to 1.

The champions go top #ARSMCI pic.twitter.com/DDZI01LY6H

— Premier League (@premierleague) February 15, 2023

Analysis

The match was very balanced and the similarity between the two teams prevailed in most of the game. The duel between master and apprentice (Mikel Arteta was Pep Guardiola’s assistant for three seasons) took place in the tactical part, as the two teams have a similar style of play.

For example, just as Zinchenko is a left-back who acts as a playmaker at Arsenal, Guardiola used midfielder Bernardo Silva to set up the game further back and come back to score on the wing. In addition, both used an output with three defenders and two sharp ends in the attack on each side.

The point of imbalance that tipped in favor of City was the pressure on the ball that he exerted from the second half on. The strategy forced Arsenal’s mistakes, which were punished with quick and effective attacks.

Heads up and onto the next. pic.twitter.com/uejk9vwUH0

— Arsenal (@Arsenal) February 15, 2023