The wait is over: Arsenal finally defeats Manchester City for the first time since 2015

Can Arsenal finally defeat Manchester City under coach Mikel Arteta? Can Arsenal win without Bakayo Saka? A big YES is the answer to both questions. The Spanish tactician finally defeated his former teacher Pep Guardiola in the Premier League, and the Gunners finally recorded a win for the first time since 2015, thus making the Premier League title bid a bit more interesting (just like last season). Will they prevail at the end remains to be seen. City were without Rodri (suspended), De Bruyne (long-time injury) and with totally ineffective Erling Haaland, recorded their third defeat in the last four games in all competition. Arsenal were without its star player Bukayo Saka, but it was another winger, Martinelli, who finally brought joy to Gunners’ supporters with a half-lucky goal in the 86th minute.

The Brazilian was fit for only half a match, so he was brought in in the second half of the match against ineffective Trossard and shook things up for the home team before eventually scoring a winner after the ball deflected from Ake and tricked Ederson. Otherwise, it was a pretty dull affair, with both teams nullifying each other. City was without its important players, but the Gunners were also without Saka and partially Martinelli, so Jesus had to play on the right, and Trossard was on the left, which clearly affected their style of play in the first half.

This game also had its fair share of controversy, as everybody near the TV screen thought that Mateo Kovačić should have been given the second yellow card in the 35 minutes, apart from referee Oliver. He had a hard challenge on Odegaard in the 30th minute and received a yellow card (even though VAR checked for a possible red one), and then just five minutes later, he had another rough start on Rice. And Oliver was numb. Another potential disaster was Arsenal keeper David Raya. Clearly shaken by the error in Lens during the Champions League 2-1 loss in mid-week, the Spaniard had two big blunders and, luckily, wasn’t punished for it. When Arteta brought Raya in for Ramsdale he suggested he had been tempted to sub goalkeepers mid-match and would be willing to do it in the future, depending on circumstances. This was a fantastic opportunity to test his own ideas, but Arteta didn’t have the courage to follow his own words but got away with it.

Just as the game started, Manchester could have scored. Two chances in the space of seconds were actually the best chances in the first half. In the fifth minute, Guardiol took a shot, and the ball was heading into the net before Jorginho cleared it off the line. The ball then came back in, and Haaland flicked it on to Ake, who missed when he had just Raya to beat. The Arsenal keeper made one of his many mistakes in this match in the 17th minute when he blundered and allowed Alvarez to get close to him and block his shot, but the ball ended in the side netting. The next big mistake happened near the end of the first half when the Spaniard totally misjudged

Martinelli, who was fit enough only for 45 minutes, came in at half-time instead of pale Trossard and immediately brought some fire up the sideline with a few quick bursts. But eventually, he was tamed down, too, as the game soon turned back to boring mode. Gabriel Jesus had a great chance for the Gunners in the 50th minute but was too far right in order to shoot precisely. With Stones in, Guardiola decided to push Bernardo Silva a bit closer to Arsenal’s defence, and Jeremy Doku came in to cause problems for the Gunners’ full-backs. Arteta responded by bringing in Havertz instead of Nketiah, while Jorginho was benched for Partey. And it was the German international who assisted Martinell for the winner, which upped the Gunners to the second spot, with equal number of points as their arch-rivals Tottenham.

ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE - MATCHDAY 8

Saturday

Luton - Tottenham 0-1 (0-0)

/Van de Ven 52/

Fulham - Sheff. Utd 3-1 (0-0)

/Decordova-Reid 53, Foderingham 76 og, Willian 90+2 - Robinson 68 og/

Everton - Bournemouth 3-0 (2-0)

/Garner 8, Harrison 37, Doucoure 60/

Burnley - Chelsea 1-4 (1-1)

/Odobert 15 - Al-Dakhil 42, Palmer 50 pen, Sterling 65, Jackson 74/

Man Utd - Brentford 2-1 (0-1)

/McTominay 90+3, 90+7 - Jensen 26/

Crystal Palace - Nott. Forest 0-0

Sunday

Brighton - Liverpool 1-2 (1-2)

/Aldingra 20 - Salah 40, 45+1 pen/

West Ham - Newcastle 2-2 (1-0)

/Soucek 8, Kudus 89- Isak 57, 62/

Wolverhampton - Aston Villa 1-1 (0-0)

/Hwang 53 - Torres 55/

Arsenal - Man.City 1-0 (0-0)

/Martinelli 86/