Match Report – Match Highlights – Post-Match Press Conference (via Arsenal.com)

Final Result: Man City 1-0 Arsenal (Ake 64′)

Arsenal XI (4-2-3-1): Turner; Tomiyasu, Holding (Saliba 46′), Gabriel, Tierney (Zinchenko 66′); Partey (Sambi Lokonga 46′), Xhaka; Saka (Odegaard 74′), F. Vieira, Trossard (Martinelli 66′); Nketiah

The biggest talking points about the heavyweight clash between Man City and Arsenal was going to be the team selection, and Pep Guardiola left no stone unturned as he fielded a fully-fledged first team lineup with Erling Haaland leading the line. Mikel Arteta on the other hand made wholesale changes from the nerve-racking win over Manchester United, giving starts to Matt Turner in goal, Kieran Tierney, Takehiro Tomiyasu and Rob Holding in defense, Fabio Vieira as the creative hub of the team, and Leandro Trossard earning his full first team debut.

Despite Man City having more possession in the final third, Arsenal had the better chances in the proceedings and almost got the lead from an unlikely source when Tomiyasu was clean on goal at the edge of the box and put his laced through the ball, but Stefan Ortega was on hand to make a strong save. Trossard was close to opening his goalscoring account with a left footed goal bound drive but Ortega was on hand yet again to make a superb save.

There were couple of times when Matt Turner was called into action, but the theme of the first half was the battle between Haaland and Holding. The Viking forward got the better of the Saxon defender times without number, to the point, Holding earned himself a booking, then I started getting some White Hart Lane vibes from last season when the defender was sent off for two bookable offenses.

At the start of the second half, Arteta made two changes that had a direct influence on the game, with William Saliba replacing Holding and Albert Sambi Lokonga replacing Partey.
Lokonga has been getting some stick from the Arsenal faithful following his inconsistent performances, and he was on show yesterday, putting up another questionable display that would do nothing to help his cause.

The deadlock was finally broken from an I unlikely source after some good work from Jack Grealish on the byline, he fed Nathan Ake that used his weaker foot to cushion the ball past Turner in the Arsenal goal. Ake was having a stormer in left back, quelling the threat of the usually dangerous Bukayo Saka.

Arteta summoned the calvary with Oleksandr Zinchenko, Gabriel Martinelli and Martin Odegaard entering the fray, but Man City held to see the game through.

In the end, the stats showed how it was a very tight contest with Man City have eight shots with three on target, while Arsenal had five shots with two on target. The xG data was very close with Man City edging Arsenal with 0.51 to 0.35.

This is certainly a precursor to the all important clash in mid-february, but it’s fair to say that Round One of this boxing clash has gone to Man City. Mikel Arteta spoke about how proud he was of his players, and from the game it was very evident that they gave a very good account of themselves against the best team in the land. 

Arsenal has two fixtures against Everton, who are close to appointing the agent of Satanball, Sean Dyche, as well as hosting the impressive Brentford that beat Man City in their home turf, before hosting the Cityzens.

With the FA Cup out of the picture, Arsenal has only the League and Europa League to compete, and Arteta will want his charges to go all the way in both competitions.

Sayonara.

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