Arsenal go full-Arsenal as City embarrassment leaves Arteta staring down the barrel

Manchester
City
5-0
Arsenal:
Guardiola’s
side
inflict
more
misery
on
10-man
Gunners

But
surely
even
Arsenal
supporters
were
just
hoping
to
keep
the
score
down
at
the
Etihad
Stadium
before
kick-off?

After
all,
history
provided
very
little
cause
for
positivity
given
they’d
lost
their
previous
six
games
against
whichever
team
were
the
Premier
League’s
defending
champions
and
been
defeated
in
each
of
their
past
eight
top-flight
meetings
with
City.

And,
true
to
form,
it
happened
again.

This
5-0
embarrassment
made
it
nine
successive
losses
to
City,
a
new
Arsenal
record
for
the
most
consecutive
defeats
to
the
same
opposition
in
league
competition.

While
Arsenal
and
Mikel
Arteta
relieved
the
pressure
slightly
in
midweek
with
their
6-0
thrashing
of
West
Brom
in
the
League
Cup,
in
reality
that
will
carry
little
importance
within
the
wider
narrative
of
the
Gunners’ hapless
start
to
the
campaign.

Of
course,
they
have
had
a
tricky
beginning
to
2021-22
with
injuries
and
coronavirus
cases,
plus
Chelsea
and
now
City
in
their
first
three
matches…
though
they
also
lost
to
promoted
Brentford
on
matchday
one,
so
it’s
not
all
just
down
to
facing
deeper
or
better
squads.

Against
City,
much
that
went
wrong
initially
was
more
to
do
with
Arsenal
being
quintessentially
Arsenal
than
City
being
excellent.

The
hosts
were
in
front
after
just
seven
minutes,
Ilkay
Gundogan
nodding
home
after
Calum
Chambers
misjudged
the
flight
of
Gabriel
Jesus’ cross,
while
Bernd
Leno
seemed
to
do
his
best
to
get
out
of
the
way.

Gundogan
and
Bernardo
Silva
in
particular
were
causing
Arsenal
significant
issues
with
their
forays
between
the
lines,
City’s
fluidity
and
flexibility
going
forward
leaving
the
Gunners’
backline
panicking
on
a
regular
basis.

City’s
control
in
those
early
stages
just
seemed
to
startle
Arteta’s
men
–
whether
by
design
or
not
is
unclear
–
into
a
state
of
hyper-defensiveness
and
that
too
backfired
as
they
fell
2-0
down
after
just
12
minutes.

Arsenal
simply
refused
to
press
City
after
a
short
free-kick.
Bernardo
had
the
freedom
to
play
a
cross
into
the
box
from
deep,
and
although
it
wasn’t
even
particularly
good,
Cedric
Soares’
feeble
attempt
to
clear
just
nudged
the
ball
through
to
Ferran
Torres
for
an
easy
finish.

At
that
point,
the
only
thing
preventing
this
from
being
‘peak
Arsenal’,
as
the
kids
would
say,
was
a
red
card
for
Granit
Xha…

With
half-time
approaching,
the
Swiss
midfielder
went
flying
in
on
Joao
Cancelo
with
both
feet
off
the
ground.
He
may
have
got
the
ball
and
the
contact
on
the
City
man
seemed
minimal,
but
it
was
dangerous,
reckless
and
a
blatant
red
card.

Of
course,
he’s
become
accustomed
to
those,
with
his
four
red
cards
since
the
start
of
2016-17
a
joint
high
in
the
Premier
League.

Eight
minutes
later,
City
had
their
third
through
Jesus
after
great
work
by
Jack
Grealish
and
there
will
surely
have
been
a
few
Arsenal
fans
fearing
the
worst
on
what
was
the
10th
anniversary
of
their
worst
Premier
League
defeat
–
that’s
right,
the
8-2
loss
to
Manchester
United
at
Old
Trafford.

Ultimately
–
and
this
may
or
may
not
be
a
consolation
to
Arteta
–
it
didn’t
get
quite
that
bad
as
City
only
added
two
more
goals
through
Rodri
and
Torres
in
the
second
half,
but
in
fairness
to
Arsene
Wenger,
at
least
his
team
scored
two
of
their
own
10
years
ago.

At
the
Etihad
on
Saturday,
just
getting
a
shot
away
would
have
been
considered
an
achievement
for
the
Gunners,
as
they
only
managed
one
in
the
entire
match.
That
sixth-minute
Bukayo
Saka
effort’s
xG
value
of
0.11
was
higher
than
their
xG-per-shot
average
of
0.06
going
into
the
weekend,
though
no
team
in
the
division
had
a
poorer
record
before
the
game.

On
top
of
that,
striker
Pierre-Emerick
Aubameyang
didn’t
have
a
single
touch
in
the
opposition’s
box
during
a
game
he
started
for
only
the
fourth
time
in
his
Premier
League
career
–
three
of
which
have
been
against
City
–
and
the
first
time
since
October
2019.

Sure,
Arsenal
were
a
man
light
against
a
very
good
City,
but
it
would
still
be
expected
to
see
a
little
more
fight.
Instead,
they
looked
resigned
to
a
hammering.

Questions
of
Arsenal’s
mentality
have
been
rife
throughout
Arteta’s
time
in
charge,
particularly
relating
to
their
discipline,
and
this
performance
was
just
another
in
a
long
series
of
no-shows.

Heading
into
Saturday,
so
much
of
the
talk
surrounding
this
match
wasn’t
even
focused
on
the
fixture,
rather
City’s
inability
to
bring
in
a
new
striker
–
or,
more
specifically,
Cristiano
Ronaldo.

But
Arsenal’s
meek
performance
stole
the
show.
Just
as
the
Premier
League
table
now
shows
for
at
least
a
few
hours,
this
was
top
versus
bottom
in
every
sense,
and
from
Arteta’s
perspective
there’s
no
more
damning
conclusion
to
be
made
than
that.