NEW DELHI: With a 5-1 thumping of a miserable Manchester City on Sunday, Arsenal maintained their hopes of winning the Premier League title, while the struggling champions suffered yet another setback in their terrible season.
Following Liverpool’s 2-0 victory over Bournemouth on Saturday, which put them nine points ahead of the Gunners, Mikel Arteta’s team had no room for mistake in the title fight.
After 103 seconds at the Emirates Stadium, Martin Odegaard’s first goal emboldened them to go on a spectacular display.
Shortly after halftime, Erling Haaland scored his 25th goal of the season across all competitions to tie the score for City.
However, when Thomas Partey took advantage of Phil Foden’s shoddy pass to put Arsenal back ahead, the thoughtless errors that have plagued City over a lackluster season proved to be the difference.
Kai Havertz and Ethan Nwaneri’s late goals and Myles Lewis-Skelly’s debut goal for Arsenal completed a brilliant performance that saw the Gunners get within six points of Liverpool.
Although Arsenal’s strong performance increased their undefeated streak to 14 games and demonstrated their desire to fight the Reds to the end, Liverpool’s game in hand maintains them comfortably in charge of the title race.
City’s six-game winning streak in the top tier came to a cruel end, and they have now lost all four of their league encounters with Arsenal.
After their miserable season, City’s hopes of winning a fifth straight crown were long since dashed, and now Pep Guardiola’s fourth-place team is concentrating on making it to the Champions League.
However, unless Guardiola can address the glaring gaps in his defense and the lack of energy in his midfield, even that might be beyond them, let alone defeating Real Madrid in this season’s playoff round.
Abdukodir Khusanov, a former Lens defender who made a clumsy start against Chelsea last weekend, was replaced by John Stones by Guardiola.
Stones, however, was a part of the disastrous defense that gave Arsenal the lead in the second minute.
Stones put his fellow defender in a tight spot with a pass to the marked Manuel Akanji.
Leandro Trossard robbed Akanji right away, and with City’s defense in disarray, Kai Havertz picked out Odegaard, who then slotted home from ten yards out.
Guardiola marched thunderously back to the bench, already fearing the worst.
The frustrated Guardiola made a variety of furious gestures as a result of City controlling possession but being toothless for extended periods of time.
During the tempestuous 2-2 draw earlier this season, Haaland infuriated Arsenal by instructing Arteta to “stay humble” and hurling the ball at Gunners defender Gabriel Magalhaes.
Unsurprisingly, Haaland scored City’s equalizer in the 55th minute.
Haaland had the opportunity to sneak in front of William Saliba and bury his close-range header after Savinho’s excellently weighted cross.
However, it only took Arsenal two minutes to make Haaland stop smiling.
After Partey intercepted Foden’s pass, the Ghanaian midfielder launched a strong long-range shot that struck Stones with a deft deflection.
In the 62nd minute, Lewis-Skelly went for the kill as Arsenal smelt blood.
The 18-year-old left-back cut inside the City area and curled a beautiful finish into the far corner with elegance that belied his inexperience.
Lewis-Skelly mimicked the City star’s contemplative celebration by sitting down with his legs crossed to mark the goal in a playful jab at Haaland.
The much-maligned Havertz scored in the 76th minute, adding to the suffering of shell-shocked City.
After stomping through City’s flimsy defense, Gabriel Martinelli set up Havertz for a clinical 10-yard finish.
Nwaneri, a young forward, struck the final punch deep into stoppage time with a brilliant goal into the far corner from a sharp angle.
For the second time in a humiliating day, City had no answer to the taunts of “you’re getting sacked in the morning” from Arsenal supporters directed at Guardiola.
