Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta trashed England’s second-place finish.
Eddie Nketiah’s Arsenal are only focused on the Premier League title race. PDO
Arsenal and Manchester City had not faced each other in over a year.
The previous match had ended with a 2–1 victory for City at the beginning of January 2022, but then there were still two teams of completely different size against each other.
Pep Guardiola’s the combination was on its way to the league championship, and his former assistant coach Mikel Arteta Arsenal aimed – ultimately in vain – for Champions League qualifying positions.
It feels like an entire football century has passed since that match. It is best seen in how Arsenal has grown into a real threat to City’s dominance.
On Friday, the teams met in the fourth round of the English Cup. It was the first hint of which direction the league championship battle between the two might turn.
Second crew
Arteta ruthlessly took advantage of the opportunity. From last weekend’s win over Manchester United, he changed the goalkeeper, both packs, the second top, the playmaker and the right winger.
In other words, he left on the bench Aaron Ramsdale, By Ben White, William Saliban, Oleksandr Zinchenko, by Martin Ødegaard and by Gabriel Martinelli.
– This is a huge gamble. So many changes, especially at the defensive end. There could be one or two of them, especially considering what kind of attacking equipment City has, who commented on the match on ITV Roy Keane criticize.
– Of course Arsenal consider the league more important because they have had such a great start. But it’s only January. I’m sure this will backfire on the team.
Aké decided
However, Keane had to clarify his assessment already during the break of the match. In the opening period, Arsenal had created the best goalscoring chances of the match For Leandro Trossardi and For Eddie Nketiah.
– I was really worried before the start of the match. City have been sloppy and seem to be out of whack. Arsenal are very involved in this match, the legend continued on ITV.
In the second period, City manager Guardiola got tired of his own people playing and sent the world champion by Julián Álvarez to the field. Just a few minutes later, the Argentine’s fiery kick hit the post, and Nathan Aké placed the ball in the bottom corner from the aftermath.
The story continues after the picture
Nathan Aké aired his winning goal. PDO
City’s opening goal also caused Artetaa to crack up. Suddenly he wanted to win. Zinchenko and Martinelli came to bring more bite to the attacking game.
In the end, Ødegaard, who also played a brilliant early season, got off the bench.
However, Baskimanager’s repair shop came too late. After taking the lead, Manchester City no longer gave the visitors space near their own goal.
It’s true that a 0-1 loss certainly won’t hurt Arsenal much. The second team selected by Arteta in the opening of the Gunners said that he was ready to hand over the cup to others.
North London is now only thinking about the league championship. For that, the reduction of extra matches is only a plus.
The success of the gamble will be decided in the spring’s two league matches against City on February 15 and April 26.
Mikel Arteta plays with high stakes. On Friday, he showed that he doesn’t care about the FA Cup. PDO