Arsenal secured a 1-0 victory over Manchester City at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday, courtesy of a late goal from Gabriel Martinelli.
City started strong and had a notable early chance through Josko Gvardiol, though his shot was cleared off the goal line. Arsenal slowly but surely made their way into the game and both sides were fairly even by halftime, though quality shots were few and far between. Gvardiol's attempt was the only shot on target out of nine combined shots, though Julian Alvarez nearly scored for the visitors when he applied pressure on David Raya as he was attempting to send the ball long midway through the half.
Arsenal fully took command of the match in the second half, with Martinelli making an impact on the left wing after coming on at halftime. The hosts then racked up seven shots but limited the opposition to just one shot in the second half, though Arsenal only registered two shots on target during that time. The tight margins eventually favored the Gunners, who scored the game's lone goal in the 86th minute.
The play began with a long ball from Thomas Partey, which allowed Arsenal to build up inside the penalty area. Kai Havertz eventually played a quick pass behind him to Martinelli, whose hit from the edge of the penalty area deflected before finding the back of the net.
It marks an impressive win for Arsenal, who were without Bukayo Saka after he came off with an injury during their 2-1 loss at Lens on Tuesday in the Champions League. The result takes Arsenal to second place in the Premier League, behind Tottenham Hotspur on goals scored.
City, meanwhile, are officially in the midst of a rough patch. The team may be third in the league but have now lost three of their last four games across all competitions and registered consecutive Premier League defeats for the first time in five years.
Arsenal are able to close this one out after Martinelli's late goal, and Arteta secures his first win over Manchester City as the Gunners manager. City, meanwhile, have lost consecutive Premier League matches for the first time in five years.
86' - After an entire half of trying, Arsenal's goal finally comes off. Partey plays a long ball towards the penalty area, and eventually Havertz plays a quick pass to Martinelli, whose shot takes a deflection before going in. Arsenal take a 1-0 lead over City with just a few minutes left on the clock.
In the first 75 minutes here, Arsenal held City to just four shots. To give you a sense of how remarkable that number is, since the start of the 2020-21 season only one other team (Manchester United in January) have matched that. The defending of Rice, Gabriel and in particular Saliba has been simply sensational. That's reflected on the stats sheet.
80' - Arsenal have had a pair of corners and continue to hang out in City's half in a fairly dominant second half, but the story of the match has not changed much in terms of goals -- each team's defense has been able to stifle potential opportunities, and so there's very little to speak of in terms of quality chances.
76' - Following Guardiola's lead, Arteta has lined up three new players of his own. Havertz, Tomiyasu, and Partey are on, while Nketiah, Zinchenko, and Jorginho are off.
68' - Doku, Nunes, and Stones come on for Alvarez, Kovacic, and Lewis. Time to find out what kind of impact the new guys can make.
For a little while there it looked like Arsenal were on top, the energy of Martinelli pinning City back, but the visitors have now got into a bit of a rhythm on and off the ball. Their press is forcing the Gunners back five to cycle the ball to nowhere before punting whilst Alvarez is starting to find spots and saw a shot inside the box well blocked. If you didn't love the first half of this you may not be too enamoured with the second but I'm absorbed.
60' - Arsenal have dominated so far in this second half, but City are now building some moments of serious possession and are inching closer to goal. The shots are still few and far between for both sides, though, with Alvarez's blocked attempt the best City's seen so far this half.
49' - It's still early in the second half, but Arsenal have started bright and have been hovering around goal. Martinelli provided a promising cross into the box towards the far post, but he was unable to connect with a teammate for a shot.
One sub at the half for Arsenal - Martinelli comes on, Trossard comes off.
Halfway through and both sides will feel they're a fair way from landing a killer blow today. Haaland had half a moment for City, a ball over the top from Ederson that he killed dead before teeing up Alvarez to strike over from range. That aside, however, he has not particularly threatened Arsenal.
Equally the Gunners' danger men have been crowded out too, Jesus dragged back by the runs of Gvardiol and Odegaard limited to a relatively meagre 21 touches. Both teams have cancelled each other out and that may not be the end of the world for City or Arsenal. They in particular might just be happy not to lose.
The sides played to a mostly even half and had encouraging spells of possession, but were awfully patient with the ball and could not translate those moments into meaningful goalscoring opportunities. There was just one shot on target out of nine combined shots for both teams, which came in the early minutes from City.
"You don't know what you're doing" is the cry from Arsenal supporters and even though Oliver is one of the best, if not the best, referee in the league, it's easy to see why they are raging after a free kick is given for a foul by Kovacic on Rice. It was not far off the foul he just committed on Odegaard, one which could very easily have ended up with him being sent off. Oliver is insistent though that he won't be giving a second. Kovacic is living a charmed life... or at least he will be until he is presumably substituted very soon.
36' - Kovacic tackles Rice in the home team's half, but even though it appeared to be a harsh challenge, referee Michael Oliver quickly eliminates the idea that we would receive a second yellow.
29' - Kovacic gets a yellow card for a sliding tackle on Odegaard. The referee did take the opportunity to ask for VAR's help, but in the end deemed that a yellow was sufficient.
27' - Nketiah finds space on the left wing and makes his way into the box and takes a shot, which falls wide of the target. It was perhaps Arsenal's best chance of the game so far, and suggests the hosts might find some success going forward on the wings. A minute earlier, Jesus found himself in a nice spot after play moved forward on the right flank, only for the play to stop after the Arsenal player pushed an opponent.
Personally I can hardly take my eyes off this match but aside from a bit of nervousness from both sides (excluding the stellar Rice and Saliba) this hasn't been a game with much drama to it. Maybe every Raya pass... Arsenal just shade the shot count by three to two but between them these sides have registered less than 10 touches in the opposition box. The Emirates Stadium needs geeing up every five minutes by Odegaard or Arteta. There is tension in the air.
19' - Raya sets up to kick the ball up the field in a seemingly low pressure moment, but then a dashing Alvarez collides with the ball and was nearly able to get a quick goal, but the opportunity does not come off.
Arteta seemed greatly amused on Friday when asked about his former boss' propensity to pull something weird in big games. Perhaps Guardiola has done the same today because a team that looked like being a 4-2-3-1 is a 4-3-3 with Silva often the deepest in possession. Foden and Alvarez, meanwhile, are operating less as orthodox wide forwards and are altogether narrower, what width City are going to have today may well come from full backs Gvardiol and Walker.
It gets even more interesting when City don't have the ball. There's no surprise that they're defending in a 4-4-2 but the man alongside Haaland in the first defensive line is intriguing, Rico Lewis stepping up from midfield to apply pressure. Whether it'll work -- or last -- remains up for debate right now.
6' - City earn a corner and have a couple of attempts on goal including a shot from Gvardiol, though Rice clears arguably City's best chance of the game so far. The visitors have very much dominated this one to start, while the hosts have looked a little nervous.
Manchester City kick things off and the match has officially begun.
Speaking to a few of the home faithful today there's a real crackle of anxiety -- perhaps informed by the fear of yet another defeat to a City team that have so emphatically had Arsenal's number of late. Equally this isn't the unstoppable force of the end of last year, they feel there might be half a chance to get something here, no matter how close the game is. And every supporter at the Emirates knows how massive a win for the hosts could be in terms of their title aspirations.
You really wonder now if Arteta could go back in time and not start Saka in Lens, would he? Surely the answer is yes because without both Arsenal's No.7 and Gabriel Martinelli, only fit enough for the bench after a hamstring injury, that side lacks someone to stretch play in behind. Can Jesus offer that against his former side?
Meanwhile what of Kai Havertz, the £65 million man who made such a strong impression against City in the Community Shield. Since then the impressive moments have been few and far between and ultimately it always felt that both Thomas Partey and Jorginho were ahead of him in Arteta's thinking today, the former probably not quite sharp enough to go from the off.
The frustration for Arteta will be that this City team looks more beatable than many he has played of late. With Stones, Rodri and Kevin De Bruyne sidelined, there's a midfield two of Kovacic and Lewis stood against them. That is a talented ball-playing duo but it's hardly Ilkay Gundogan and Rodri, is it? This looks like a real chance for Arsenal... but perhaps not one they are in a position to exploit.
As expected, Guardiola is playing as close to a full strength team as he can, with Haaland and Alvarez leading the attacking effort. Rodri, though, misses out after getting a red card in last week's loss to Wolves. Here's a look at their lineup.
Manchester City starting XI: Ederson, Walker, Dias, Ake, Gvardiol, Kovacic, Lewis, Bernardo, Foden, Alvarez, Haaland
Substitutes: Ortega Moreno, Phillips, Stones, Grealish, Doku, Gomez, Akanji, Nunes, Bobb
The Arsenal winger has not recovered in time from the injury he sustained on Tuesday, and will sit out today's big matchup. Here's how Arteta's side will line up today
Arsenal starting XI: Raya, White, Saliba, Gabriel, Zinchenko, Rice, Jorginho, Odegaard, Trossard, Jesus, Nketiah
Substitutes: Ramsdale, Tomiyasu, Kiwior, Partey, Smith Rowe, Vieira, Nelson, Martinelli, Havertz
In arguably the biggest matchup of the Premier League weekend, Arsenal host Manchester City after both enjoyed fairly strong starts to the season. Both have a shot at taking top spot from Tottenham, who currently sit there after yesterday's win over Luton Town.
Stay tuned for updates from today's game, including team news.
