Arsenal ended their 12-game losing streak against Manchester City in the Premier League after a late 1-0 win on Sunday evening.
Premier League
Result: Arsenal 1-0 Manchester City
Date: 08 October 2023
Venue: Emirates Stadium
The Gunners were without Bukayo Saka in the Premier League for the first time since May 2021 due to injury and his place was taken by Eddie Nketiah.Man City, on the other hand, were still without midfielder Rodri due to suspension and Mateo Kovacic got the nod again in his place while Bernardo Silva and Julian Alvarez supported Erling Haaland upfront.
Pep Guardiola's charges almost had a dream start after Josko Gvardiol had a shot headed off the line by Declan Rice from a corner and Nathan Ake had a bigger chance for the visitors moments later but fired a shot over the crossbar one-on-one with goalkeeper David Raya.
In a shaky start for Arsenal, Raya almost gifted the Citizens the lead on 18 minutes after he took time before releasing a long kick and as he was pressed in the box, his shot ricocheted off Alvarez and fortunately for him missed the gaping net.
City dropped deep in their own half after that and the Gunners enjoyed more of the ball and Guardiola's men had disciplinary issues that could have cost the team after the half-hour mark, as Kovacic got away with only a yellow card for a lunging tackle on Martin Odegaard's ankle and five minutes later was fortunate not to get a second booking for a late tackle on Rice.
After the latter phase of the first stanza remained deadlocked, Mikel Arteta made an attacking change at half-time as Gabriel Martinelli replaced Leandro Trossard.
Arsenal looked more threatening with the Brazilian operating the wide left channel but there was not much space to manoeuvre in City's defence.
It was time for the Citizens to dictate matters after the hour-mark but they too could not find the final pass upfront and with 22 minutes remaining, Guardiola made tactical change as John Stones replaced Rico Lewis while Jeremy Doku replaced Alvarez for fresh legs.
As the game remained on the balance, Arteta had his last throw of a dice in the last 15 minutes, as he brought on Kai Havertz and Thomas Partey to have an effect on the match.
The game got more tactical in the dying minutes, with very little separating the sides and Martinelli finally broke the deadlock for the Gunners two minutes before time with a strike that took a deflection off Ake and wrong-footed shot-stopper Ederson.
Arteta's men held on in the end and climbed above City by two points in second spot on the log and went equal on points with leaders Tottenham Hotspur, who remained at the top due to having scored more goals than Arsenal, as they are also equal on goal difference.
The Citizens lost back-to-back league games for the first time in five years.
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