Man City Brushes Aside Arsenal Thanks to De Bruyne, Agüero and Jesus
Manchester City made it 10 wins from 11 in the Premier League with a 3-1 victory over Arsenal thanks to goals from Kevin De Bruyne, Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Jesus, after Arsene Wenger made a questionable call to drop £50m striker Alexandre Lacazette to the bench.
The 68-year-old opted to field Francis Coquelin as part of a three-man midfield, and revert back to a four-man defence for the first time in 19 games. Alex Iwobi was selected as part of an attacking trident with Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez, which failed to work at the Etihad.
A lively start to the game saw City almost take the lead immediately through Aguero, who was specially presented before the crowd before kick-off for his record-breaking exploits in midweek. The Argentinian ace blazed over though with uncharacteristic complacency.
Arsenal's Alex Iwobi volleyed over moments later with the Gunners' first chance, before Leroy Sane squared to Raheem Sterling who was a step up in boot size away from opening the scoring from close range.
The deadlock was broken after 18 minutes though by De Bruyne, who drilled into the far corner with his left foot. The Belgian had a volley saved by Petr Cech in the same passage of play, and stayed on the edge of the box to exchange passes with Fernandinho to work the space, before giving the 35-year-old no chance.
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That seemed to settle City into it as they took to dominating possession. It perhaps should have been two on 34 minutes, but Sterling overhit his pass to Sane as the pair were two-on-one, Pep Guardiola's frustration on the touchline clear to see.
Arsenal might have equalised on the stroke of half-time when the largely ineffective Aaron Ramsey shot low to Ederson's right. A spectator for most of the half, the 24-year-old made a great save to allow the Citizens to go in 1-0 up at the break.
City made the perfect start to the second half when Fernandinho played in Sterling down the right with a beautiful lofted pass to spring the offside trap. The referee adjudged Nacho Monreal to have unfairly barged the England winger off the ball, and Aguero made it goal number 179 from the resultant spot-kick.
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Arsenal tried to respond through Iwobi, who unleashed a fierce drive from the left. Ederson failed to hold it and was rather fortunate to have gathered at the second time of asking on the goal line.
Arsene Wenger replaced surprise inclusion Francis Coquelin early in the second half with Alexandre Lacazette, which seemed like an admission that he got his starting XI wrong on the day. And it paid dividends in the 64th minute when the French striker was released by Iwobi down the right, and he finished with aplomb through Ederson's legs to give the visitors hope.
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The Gunners then had Cech to thank for preventing City from hitting straight back through substitute Gabriel Jesus. The Brazilian connected well but was thwarted from close range.
City did go 3-1 ahead rather fortuitously though when David Silva ghosted beyond the Arsenal backline. Replays showed the Spaniard might have been flagged offside, but the decision went in the home side's favour. Silva then squared for Jesus who tapped in for his seventh league goal of the season to all but end the Gunners hopes of any points.
Guardiola's side held firm for the rest of the game and condemned Arsenal to their fourth defeat of the season, and it's now an incredible 31 points out of a possible 33, with just the 38 goals scored.
