Summary: Arsenal - Manchester City 3:1 (Sport1)
This season's game in the Premier League tonight (Wednesday) lived up to expectations, and at the end of it there is a new-old leader: Manchester City, who beat Arsenal 1:3 and rose to the top for the first time since November 2022, with an extra game, a better goal difference, and the same amount of points.
Kevin de Brauna (24), Jack Grealish (72) and Erling Holland (82) scored for Pep Guardiola, Bocayo Saka temporarily equalized from the penalty spot (42), and the Gunners are in a lot of trouble, after a fourth consecutive game without a win.
It was City's 11th league victory in a row (!) over Arsenal, and it is not at all certain that Mikel Arteta's young team is able to recover from this defeat, despite the missing game.
This result also brings Manchester United back into the race, who are now only five points away from the top.
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Holland has continued his torrid season and now has 32 appearances in 30 games this season, including 26 league goals in 22 games.
In doing so, he equaled Sergio Aguero, who set a league goals record for a City player in one season in 2014/15.
Let's remember: we are only in the middle of February.
"We are the champions, so you can say it was a champion's performance," said the Norwegian at the end.
"Pep made a small change at halftime, we have quality players and every player did their best. That's how we should play, I'm proud of each and every player."
The superstar added: "We can all agree that Arsenal was the best team this season, so playing like that against them is not easy. We played amazing and got three very important points, and we're back in business. We needed it and now we have to start running, because that's what City have to do."
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Manchester City beat Arsenal 1:3, and temporarily rose to the top at their own expense
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"We are at the top, but they have a missing game," concluded Pep Guardiola.
"Either way, there are still many games left until the end of the season. In the first half they were much better than us, in the second we were much better. The tactics were not good in the first half, I tried something new and it was terrible. In the second half we were already more like ourselves. For me, Arsenal is still the leader. We won't win all our games, and I hope they don't either."
Jack Grealish added: "The goal I scored was big for me, it's a great night and exactly what I wanted. I played well but I wanted to make an impact in one of these big games. I'm happy and want to thank the coach, who lets me play freely. I don't think we played that well , Arsenal might have been better, but if you want to win titles, you have to come back and win games like this."
On the other side, the sunset of the cannons continues.
In the first 19 games of the season they lost only seven points, and in the last three games they have already lost eight.
"The game was decided in the spaces, and we weren't sharp enough in front of the goal," admitted Martin Odgor.
"They were better. Apart from that, we played well. This is football, sometimes the situations come in and sometimes they don't. We need to improve in this thing, as a team. All season we said that we have to work hard and only look from game to game, and that's how it is now. We lost a game and we have to look at the game the next".
Mikel Arteta added: "It was a huge battle, until we conceded the second goal. We felt we could win, but finally they scored the third and won. These are mistakes that cannot be made at this level."
However, the Spanish manager claimed that "I have more faith than I had before the game, in light of our performance against a team at City's level. The players also believe, I feel it."
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"I'm so surprised by how Arsenal look in the second half," tweeted Gary Neville after the Citizens' 1:2.
"It looks like it's big on her."
Former player Chris Sutton added: "It's a fatal blow for Arsenal. How do you recover from that? Yes, they have an extra game, but City were excellent in the second half, they muscled up and told Arsenal, 'We're the team to beat'. That's why they're the champions, they were Just tremendous in the last third."
Former Arsenal and England player Matthew Epson concluded: "A great victory for City, they delivered a world-class performance at exactly the right moment. The players finished the situations brilliantly, dominated when they needed to and defended well. They celebrate with their fans rightfully so."
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Manchester city
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