Premier, City makes three at Arsenal and reopens the Premier

Check mate. City returns to the top of the Premier League with a 3-1 with which they clear the Emirates by taking their first direct clash in the league with Arsenal. A victory that became heavy in the second half, when from 72′ to 82′ first Grealish and then Haaland made clear the victory of Guardiola’s team, who now share the first place in the standings with the Gunners after a long chase. Helped by the growth of City, which takes another step to reach its best, and by the sudden slowdown of Arsenal, only one point in the last 3 games after having scored 50 in the first 19. It is as if the weight of a not very vast staff had suddenly found Arteta’s team.

The keys

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City wins because they get the best out of their champions. De Bruyne unlocks it in the 24th minute with a nice lob and closes in the 82nd minute by assisting Haaland, who has reached 26 goals in the Premier League this season and is much more part of the champions’ maneuver than in the last few games. Grealish finds the 2-1 goal crowning a good performance. Like that of Bernardo Silva, whom Guardiola initially sacrifices as a left full-back to limit Saka, a role that the Portuguese alternates with that of midfielder next to Rodri and then moves to right wing in attack at the key moment of the match. The shots of the champions are what Arsenal lacked: Saka scored the momentary 1-1 goal from a penalty before the break but on the right he struggled (also due to Silva’s forbidden shots), Martinelli on the left seems the distant relative of the one who enchanted before the World Cup. Arteta lost the fundamental Partey before the match: Jorginho played before the second half, but the blue doesn’t yet know Arsenal well enough to be able to dictate the times like the Ghanaian does. And in attack the absence of Gabriel Jesus becomes heavier every game. The Gunners aren’t struggling from today, but this result hurts even more because it confirms what Arteta suspected, i.e. that City are still superior, and that Arsenal are suffering a lot at this stage, even the tiredness accumulated in the first part of this season. season by a smaller staff than its rivals. To regain the top (the Gunners have played a game less than City), Arteta will have to quickly figure out how to solve the problems.

The match

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It was a double gift from the Arsenal defense that unlocked the match in the 24th minute. First Saliba hits a long clearance from Ederson with a bad header, then Tomiyasu svirgola to anticipate Grealish: the ball somehow reaches De Bruyne, who slips Ramsdale from the edge of the box with a precise lob. Arsenal straightened the situation before the break, with Saka converting a penalty awarded for a foul by Ederson on Nketiah in the 42nd minute. In the 6th minute of added time City hit the crossbar with Aké, but the second half restarted from 1-1 and with no changes. In the 57th minute Haaland earned a penalty after winning a physical duel with Gabriel, but the Var canceled it for a millimeter offside by the Norwegian. City’s goal was only postponed: it arrived in the 72nd minute, with Grealish finishing a nice counterattack with a right-footed shot. It’s the shoulder that makes Arsenal stagger, knocked out ten minutes later by the knockout blow that the champions deliver with the usual formidable Haaland-De Bruyne axis. For the 3-1 that gives them back the Premier League.