Man City 4-1 Arsenal as De Bruyne-inspired Man City destroy Arsenal 4-1 win that swings the Premier League title race firmly in the champions’ favour.
Mikel Arteta’s side still lead the standings by two points, but City have two games in hand and their juggernaut shows no sign of slowing down as they approach a seemingly more favourable run-in on paper.
Arsenal came into the game on the back of successive draws against Liverpool, West Ham and Southampton and their seemingly dwindling belief suffered an early blow when Erling Haaland set up De Bruyne for a fabulous solo goal in the seventh minute.
The Gunners were indebted to some last-ditch defending and fine saves from goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale before Stones headed home De Bruyne’s stoppage-time free-kick. A lengthy VAR check showed Ben White had played the England centre-back onside.
Man City vs Arsenal final score
| Result | |
| Man City | 4 |
| Arsenal | 1 |
Goals:
MAN CITY — Kevin De Bruyne (Erling Haaland) — 7th minute.
MAN CITY — John Stones (Kevin De Bruyne) — 45th minute+1.
MAN CITY — Kevin De Bruyne (Erling Haaland) — 54th minute.
ARSENAL — Rob Holding (Leandro Trossard) — 87th minute.
MAN CITY — Erling Haaland (Phil Foden) — 90th minute+5.
Lineups:
Man City (3-2-4-1): Ederson (GK) – Walker, Dias, Akanji – Stones, Rodri – Silva, De Bruyne, Gundogan (Mahrez), Grealish (Foden) – Haaland
Arsenal (4-3-3): Ramsdale (GK) – White, Gabriel, Holding, Zinchenko – Odegaard (Smith Rowe), Partey, Xhaka (Jorginho) – Saka (Nelson), Jesus, Martinelli (Trossard)
Haaland was unusually imprecise in front of goal before eventually scoring goal 49 of an astonishing individual season.
Ramsdale thwarted him one-on-one early in the second period, only for the Norway superstar to turn provider for De Bruyne again, with City’s talismanic playmaker slotting home in the 54th minute.
Defender Rob Holding, who endured a torrid night at the hands of City’s rampant attack, dispatched a consolation goal from Leandro Trossard’s pass three minutes from time, only for substitute Phil Foden to set up Haaland to bring the house down at a raucous Etihad Stadium, his 33rd goal of the top-flight campaign setting a new Premier League single-season record.
Erling Haaland showing signs of Pep Guardiola transformation
Haaland belatedly edged on to 49 goals for the season and will be baffled as to how he didn’t bring up his half-century. Part of the reason for that was moments of brilliance from Ramsdale, who became the first Premier League goalkeeper to save a shot from City’s No.9 since… Aaron Ramsdale at Emirates Stadium in February.
But despite coming close to the unthinkable drought of two consecutive scoreless outings, Haaland has played a key role in City’s overall attacking play. His decoy run helped Riyad Mahrez score the game-sealing goal against Sheffield United in the FA Cup semifinal and he produced some masterful centre-forward play on the end of Stones’ raking ball, spinning Holding and releasing De Bruyne to tear at a backpedalling Arsenal backline before firing into the bottom corner.
His second assist came as he shrugged off another Ramsdale save and he was a Nordic nightmare for the Arsenal defence all night as he pulled deep, dragged them about and powered into muscular runs at them. He was a false nine and a frighteningly real nine all at once, deservedly letting his hair down at the last.
