Manchester City steamrolled past Arsenal to trim the Gunners’ lead in the Premier League down to two points.
Kevin De Bruyne scored a brace with John Stones and Erling Haaland scoring as well for City. Rob Holding had the consolation goal for Arsenal.
City’s impressive run of form continued with the home side all over Arsenal to start. The final tally could have been more egregious if some of City’s penalty shouts were awarded. Nonetheless, the result is a very good indicator of where both teams are at the moment.
Never has a two point lead felt anything but for Mikel Arteta’s side. Despite that lead, they are fully aware Manchester City has two games in hand. Should they come out on top, Pep Guardiola’s team would have a four-point advantage.
Even with the win, Guardiola isn’t getting ahead of himself quite just yet.
"“The next three games are really, really important,” Guardiola said. “Game by game and we will see what happens. The reality today, it sounds naive, but we are behind Arsenal on the league table.”Source: ESPN"
While Guardiola is expressing a sense of calmness, Arteta knew they let a huge opportunity pass them by.
"“Analysis is clear, the better team won the game, they were probably at their best. especially in the first half and we were nowhere near our level,” Arteta said.“In the first 30 minutes, all the basic things you have to do against an exceptional team in terms of competing, winning duals, understanding what the game requires, we didn’t do it and we got punished and we could have been punished even more.”Source: Sky Sports"
A scathing analysis by the Arsenal manager considering the already lopsided result.
Arsenal will feel like they let the Premier League slip away. Especially with the back-to-back-to-back draws and considering they were up by two goals against Liverpool and West Ham. Then they had the debacle against Southampton where they had to come back from being down to salvage a draw.
Manchester City have found their form at the most opportune time. They control their fate and based on how things are going, and their remaining schedule, it is almost a certainty they’ll be lifting the Premier League title come the end of the season.
But that is unlikely to be enough for Guardiola and his team. Manchester City will also have their eyes on winning the Champions League with Real Madrid standing in their way on the road to the final.