ARSENAL have THRASHED champions Manchester City to put down a huge marker in the Premier League and keep their title hopes alive!
It took just one minute and 44 seconds for Martin Odegaard to open the scoring after capitalising on Manuel Akanji’s howler.
Erling Haaland equalised for City in the 55th minute before strikes from Thomas Partey, Myles Lewis-Skelly, Kai Havertz and Ethan Nwaneri saw Arsenal fight back in stunning fashion.
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Match report
Humble pie is a dish best served cold – and Erling Haaland was force-fed until he was sick to the stomach at a throbbing Emirates Stadium.
Manchester City’s Norwegian goal machine had told Mikel Arteta to ‘stay humble’ and chucked a ball at the head of Arsenal defender Gabriel Magalhaes after City stole an injury-time equaliser in September.
Here was payback. When Martin Odegaard fired an early opener, Gabriel screamed into Haaland’s face.
When Myles Lewis-Skelly netted a peach of a first senior goal, he aped Haaland’s goal trademark celebration.
And when Kai Havertz netted the fourth in this rout of Pep Guardiola’s fallen champions, tens of thousands of gleeful Gooners sang ‘Haaland’s a c***, ole, ole!”
Next four
Cup duty up next for the two sides as Arsenal head for St James’ Park in midweek and City are in FA Cup action next weekend.
Leicester, West Ham and Nottingham Forest for the Gunners in the league while City have Newcastle at home sandwiched by two incredible Champions League play off ties with Real Madrid.
Myles ahead
On Myles Lewis-Skelly, Mikel Arteta told Sky Sports: “You need big individual performances to beat them. Myles was certainly one of them, the maturity he showed and competitiveness as well.
“He plays with that personality and he’s scored a beautiful goal.
“He has been pushing us since he has been with us. We like his character and personality. He has so much courage.
“He has qualities that fit into the way we want to play. He got some minutes and he is asking for more. He deserves to play.”
Arsenal player ratings – FORWARDS
Leandro Trossard – 6: Was particularly lively on the left in the first half, giving Matheus Nunes a real run for his money. His end product, however, wasn’t the best.
Gabriel Martinelli – 6: Lively on the right wing in the early goings. Found the back of the net in the fifth minute after some beautiful play from Odegaard but was needlessly offside. Forced a good save out of Ortega with a rasping effort in the 68th minute.
Kai Havertz – 6: Lively early doors, testing Stefan Ortega with a tame shot in the first minute. Teed up Odegaard for a tap in a few moments later. Missed a golden opportunity to double the lead in the 25th minute, dragging the ball wide with the goal at his absolute mercy.
Made amends for his howler by finishing an even harder chance in the 76th minute. He well and truly needed that as he looked absolutely devoid of confidence.
Arsenal player ratings – MIDFIELD
Thomas Partey – 7: Steady in the heart of midfield and broke up play well when required. Fired the Gunners back into the lead in the 57th minute with a deflected shot from outside the box.
Martin Odegaard – 7: Was in the right place at the right time to benefit from the aftermath of an uncharacteristic Manuel Akanji error and break the deadlock. Was at the heart of everything good the north Londoners did going forward.
Declan Rice – 6: Combative, as always, in the middle of the park and played a role in the home side taking the lead, teeing up Havertz who squared the ball to Odegaard.
Arsenal player ratings – DEFENDERS
SunSport’s Chisanga Malata runs the rule over Arsenal’s players this afternoon.
David Raya – 7/10: Had very little to do in the first half but made a brilliant save in the 22nd minute to deny a goalbound header from Josko Gvardiol.
Made another stunning save two minutes from the half-time interval, stopping a deflected Savinho shot from close range. Powerless to stop Erling Haaland’s 55th-minute header from briefly levelling the scores.
Jurrien Timber – 6: Didn’t offer his usual attacking threat going forward but was solid defensively. Picked up a pointless yellow breaking up a harmless counter-attack in the 24th minute. Almost scored late in the second half.
William Saliba – 5: Didn’t have much to do in the first half but won all his aerial battles in the first 45 minutes. Marshalled the defence well early in the second period but was embarrassingly outjumped and outmuscled by Haaland for City’s equaliser – a major flaw of his that continues to be exposed.
Gabriel – 6: Like his defensive partner, he was seldom called into action in the first half. Dominant in the air in his battles with Haaland, who he trolled after Odegaard’s goal.
Myles Lewis-Skelly – 8: Continues to endear himself to the Emirates faithful with composure and tenacity beyond his years as he brilliantly floated between left back and midfield. Put real daylight between the two sides with a thumping finish just after the hour mark. This young lad is a real bright prospect for both the Gunners and England.
His trolling of Haaland by copying the Norwegian’s ‘Lotus’ celebration went down a storm with fans.
Everyone involved
Opta say Ethan Nwaneri’s goal included a passing move that involved EVERY Arsenal player.
The move lasted nearly two minutes – the longest passing move leading to a goal in the Premier League since September 2023.
They posted: “Ethan Nwaneri’s goal ended a passing sequence of 36 uninterrupted passes in a move that lasted one minute & 54 seconds and involved every Arsenal outfield player.
“It was the longest passing move leading to a Premier League goal since September 2023.”
‘High competitive level’
Mikel Arteta was delighted with the manner in which his team won this ‘must-win’ contest.
He told Sky Sports: “It is a great day for us, especially with the necessity that we had to win the game. The manner that we have done it I am really pleased.
“We had to suffer and in moments we needed a bit of luck, and we had it.
“They hold you very deep and in those moments you have to suffer and as I said, there were moments that we were lucky.
“Overall, we scored some beautiful goals and the team showed a high competitive level.”
‘Wonderful player’
Just on Declan Rice who spoke a short time ago, he was awarded man of the match for his display this afternoon after two assists.
Jamie Carragher told Sky Sports: “I scratch my head when l hear people criticising Declan Rice.
“He is an all-round midfielder. He is a throwback to the midfielder who used to play in a 4-4-2 and could do a bit of everything.
“He is a wonderful player.”
More from Pep
Pep Guardiola admits ‘I regret the last 15/20 minutes’ as he praised his team for their performance up until that point.
He told the BBC: “I only regret the last 25 minutes, we forgot to do what we should do, what we have done for 65/70 minutes.
“Of course it’s a difficult game starting in this stadium, against that team in the first minutes it’s happened many times this season.
“But after 10/15 minutes I think we took the game and played really, really, really, really good and we are in it after 1-1 and good momentum we pass to make the transition with Omar and a deflection and the third goal.
“But after that, we then continued to do what you have to do in terms defensively and little bit more patient. When you’re playing that way they can run and of course at 3-1 they are comfortable, its more difficult. I regret the last 15/20 minutes, the rest was a really good game for our side. It’s difficult to understand when you see the result but this is my feeling.
“It’s happened all season, we are giving away too many things, we are aware this cannot happen, it happened. But we reacted really well and we played with personality and we defended so good and then with the ball we were a threat but unfortunately after the second happened, again many times we had the momentum. For the deflection and in other situations we conceded the goals.”
Pep agrees
Pep Guardiola told his press conference that he agreed with John Stones’ ‘unacceptable’ claim.
He said: “I agree with Stones. We reacted really well. After the Havertz miss, we played the game in the high, high level we can be.
“You can lose two, three, four. But what we have done in 65, it was not done.
“Hopefully we can learn the lessons for the future.”
‘Fire in our bellies’
Declan Rice admitted the Arsenal players wanted to make amends for the bad blood contest at the Etihad earlier this season.
He told Sky Sports: “To win 5-1 is an unbelievable scoreline – we had fire in our bellies from what happened at the Etihad at the start of the season, we really wanted to amend that. I think we did.
“It was an even game up until the third goal. They posed a threat, had a lot of the ball. We had to sit deep. Even though we won 5-1, Man City are a top team.
“It’s been building up over a certain amount of time. They nicked the title off Arsenal when I wasn’t here and then they beat us to the title. It’s been hard to accept that and then everything that went on at the Etihad, you do get that fire in your stadium. The boys are buzzing. We are still off the top and that’s where we want to be.”
Not taking it well
Erling Haaland’s dad Alfie not quite taking the defeat that well.
He’s responded to an Arsenal post on X, showing Lewis-Skelly surrounded by his teammates while doing his son’s celebration.
Finish as friends?
Is the feud over? Are Haaland and Gabriel finally friends?
That doesn’t seem likely. This was Gabriel after the 5th goal. I wouldn’t think they shared a kind word but I could be wrong…
‘Unacceptable’
John Stones apologised to the Man City fans for their performance in the final half an hour.
He told Sky Sports: “Yeah it’s difficult. I think all of us don’t taking losing well. It’s hard for me to put into words straight after a game like that.
“Pride is hurt. Sorry to the fans that travelled to sit and watch how we played that last 30 minutes, it was not acceptable.
“As a collective it’s not us, it’s not nice to be involved in that when it’s not yourself or the team.
“Credit to Arsenal, it’s not an easy place to come to. I thought for 60-65 minutes we played some great football at times and we were in the game.
“Angry and upset, personally and collectively.”
“Got what we deserved”
He told Sky Sports: “It was a top game and a top performance.
“With the fans and the atmosphere and the scoresheet like that it can’t be better.
“It was about time [getting on the scoresheet himself] and it was good after as we didn’t stop – we kept on going. We got what we deserved. It was a good one.”
Final stats
Seven shots on target and five goals for Arsenal.
The Gunners with more goals than City had efforts on target.
City had much more of the ball until around 70 minutes but Arsenal wrestled some of it back with some keep-ball to see out the final 10 minutes.
‘Enjoy it’
Arsenal legend Thierry Henry told Sky Sports: “When they play like that they’re difficult to stop. Let’s enjoy it – it doesn’t happen often.
“Liverpool are still six points ahead with a game in hand. Let’s carry on working the way we did in the last 30 minutes.”
How we stand
A look at the top of the Premier League table as Arsenal close the gap to six points – and their goal difference looks healthier now too!
Liverpool still have a game in hand and a six point lead and in truth are probably not going to be caught.
They’d need to lose three of their remaining games with Arsenal winning every single one from now to the end of the season. Neither is likely.
But the Gunners can only keep winning and hope something miraculous happens!
City stay fourth – just – on goal difference.
Nottingham Forest the big winners in the Champions League hunt this weekend!
‘Stunned’
Following the game Gary Neville on co-commentary duties said: “They’ve torn Manchester City to shreds in the last 25 minutes.
“Nwaneri was brilliant since coming on. Stunned. Emphatic from Arsenal.”
Nail on the head
A text from my brother there who hit the nail on the head.
How have Manchester City let it get to February 2nd and field a back four and keeper like they did today?
Gvardiol maybe the exception but he’s far better attacking than he is defensively.
So getting no real protection from Kovacic and Bernardo Silva, who was happy to just run around ineffectively, it was a disaster waiting to happen.
FT – Arsenal 5-1 Man City
Quite a boring first half but a thrilling second half, especially from the home side.
Five goals, five different scorers and Arsenal hand City a right doing.
City were hopeless, devoid of any sort of idea.
FULL TIME!
A blistering second half display sees Arsenal thump the champions to move to within six points of Liverpool!
ARSENAL 5-1 MAN CITY
GOAL DETAIL
Arsenal keep the ball until working it out to Nwaneri on the corner of the box.
Savinho and Gvardiol’s attempt at defending is woeful, letting him cut in on his left foot.
The youngster bends a beauty right into the bottom corner. Ortega couldn’t even be bothered making an attempt at keeping out.
Five-star from Arsenal!
90+3 – GOAL!! ARSENAL 5-1 Man City
ETHAN NWANERI with a sensational strike to round-off a thumping win!
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
