ARSENAL VS MANCHESTER CITY

 ARSENAL F.C. VS MANCHESTER CITY F.C. ANALYSIS (2nd February 2025)

Start - 16:30 GMT Time

Total Game Time - 94'

No. of Yellow Cards - 2 (2 ARSENAL / 0 MAN CITY)

No. of Red Cards - 0

Substitutions - 6 (4 ARSENAL / 2 MAN CITY)

MOTM - Myles Lewis-Skelly

Final Result - 5-1 (Ødegaard 2', Haaland 55', Partey 56', Lewis-Skelly 62', Havertz 76', Nwaneri 93')

Two recent time titans, Arteta's Arsenal and Guardiola's Manchester, contest in a guaranteed blockbuster of a game. Here is who they picked to start and compete against each other:

Arsenal

Man City

No words. Who would've expected that. An extremely dominant display from the Gunners, coming out on top against Man City in style. Especially in a game where two tactical masterminds, Pep and Mikel, are competing, you would never expect such a one-sided game. Although, Man City did put up a good fight, however wasn't enough unfortunately. A game for the ages indeed. Arsenal are very lucky to have produced Lewis-Skelly and Nwaneri because oh my, both of them were fantastic, especially Lewis-Skelly, who clinched his MOTM award in the end. Despite the result, some Man City players that game caught my eye. I personally think Gvardiol controlled his side well, contributing to defensive and offensive plays, nearly scoring a header from Marmoush's cross, unlucky to be denied by a terrific save from Raya and off the crossbar. While on the topic, City's new signing Marmoush was pretty good as well in my opinion. Having some brave attempts on goal and cutting inside very well on a few occasions. Savinho showed his quality again on the pitch, although missing some attempts in the first half, he overall played pretty good. His assist really sums up his playing style, a great turn to get in a better position and makes an immaculate cross for Haaland to pounce on, a quick, stylish and quality play. Haaland had a pretty silent game, despite scoring the only goal, he failed to make any another impact. A bit of the downside now, Ortega, had a mixed game in my opinion, pulled off some great saves but was unfortunate to experience the shots of Arsenal that game, conceding 5. Stones also had a partially positive game, breaking into open space when the oppurtunity was to seize and his composed passing. I really don't think you can blame Stones for the first goal, it was a great pass from him to Akanji who as a defender, should be able to get out of pressure. Unfortunately, Akanji loses the ball and Stones did not expect him too, so he unintentionally plays Havertz and Ødegaard onside. Foden also didn't do his best, giving the ball away for Arsenal to score their 2nd. 

Everything else was quite moderate from him however. Now for Arsenal, all players definitely played their

part! Just as I mentioned, Lewis-Skelly was the one to watch, scoring a lovely link-up goal in the penalty area

and contributing his defensive jobs to the team, what a match for the young man! Nwaneri was also a young

Gunner to stand out in the squad. Not just scoring a lovely finesse goal to seal the fifth goal but making an 

overall impact in the game. I think he fits Arsenal's playstyle really well and will excel there. Havertz had 

an overall good game despite the miss. To be honest, it wasn't the worst miss of all, you could clearly see 

what he was attempting to do and beat both the defender and keeper. His 1 goal and assist did partially hide 

his awful miss. Ødegaard, before the game having 0 Premier League goals in the 24/25 season and then casually scoring inside 2 minutes, not the best of goals but did definitely do! His tracking back and pressurising was something to note as well. Raya and Gabriel were definitely some players to watch in this match up as well, as I mentioned, Raya making incredible saves and I am surprised there was only 1 conceded to be fair. Gabriel I haven't mentioned, and in especially this kind of match up always delivers. and boiling some blood on the way too! Finally to state Declan Rice had a game that has been under the radar, 2 assists, not bad! First one being a good ball to Lewis-Skelly to break the line and then an adventurous long ball to Nwaneri to score the 5th. Very underrated performance. Martinelli also grabbed an assist for Havertz's goal, the awareness of him was good, breaking into space, taking his time and waiting for Havertz to overlap first. Not bad for the Brazilian. As a squad, Arsenal played obviously very good, putting 5 past Manchester City, can't argue with that! On the other hand, as a team, Man City didn't play bad as well. It was unfortunate for them to crumble in the second half, scoring 1 but conceding 4, as opposed to their first half where only 1 goal was conceded, that being a mistake as well. Three words, Stay Humble, Eh? (Applies to both teams by the way.)

To sign off, this game gives a huge advantage to the Gunners, closing in on Liverpool by 6 points, however Liverpool still have a game in hand due to their match up against Everton being cancelled. Also this gets them 3 points ahead of Nottingham, the underdog of this campaign. This also heavily boosts Arsenal goal differential, now over half of Nottingham's 13 and 8 behind Liverpool's 35. This game also obviously affected Man City terribly as now they've moved down to 5th, just outside the UCL spot, the fact that Chelsea have overtaken them despite Man City beating them 3-1 recently. Goes both ways for both teams. Arsenal - 50 points, Man City - 41 points

A beautiful display of the beautiful game, historic scoreline as well. Thank you again the Premier League for delivering an outstanding game again between the 2 titans. Next analysis LIVERPOOL F.C VS EVERTON F.C