LONDON: Arsenal ended their eight-year wait for a Premier League win over Manchester City as Gabriel Martinelli’s late strike sealed a dramatic 1-0 victory against the champions on Sunday. After 12 successive league defeats at the hands of Pep Guardiola’s men, the Gunners enjoyed a moment of sweet redemption at the Emirates Stadium. With just four minutes left, Martinelli’s shot took a hefty deflection off City defender Nathan Ake, sparking wild celebrations as Arsenal clinched a top-flight success against the treble winners for the first time since December 2015.
Arsenal had beaten City on penalties in the Community Shield in August, but that victory in the curtain-raiser to the domestic season could not be taken as seriously as this potentially crucial result. It lifted unbeaten Arsenal two points above third-placed City into second place, leaving them behind leaders Tottenham on goals scored. For the first time since December 2018, City have lost successive league games following their 2-1 defeat at Wolves last weekend. Add in a League Cup loss against Newcastle and City have been beaten in three of their last four games.
It is a rare sign of vulnerability from a team who started their bid for a fourth successive title by winning the first six games of the season. Few will expect City to surrender without a fight, but Guardiola has issues to solve as he looks to reinvigorate a squad that may have lost a little hunger after their treble triumph. City nearly took the lead inside five minutes when Josko Gvardiol’s lunging effort was headed off the line by Declan Rice after Arsenal goalkeeper David Raya misjudged a cross. With Arsenal failing to clear the danger after that narrow escape, City’s Nathan Ake should scored from close range, but the defender wastefully fired over.
For the second time in the opening 20 minutes, Raya almost gifted City a goal as he took too long to deal with Gabriel’s back-pass, allowing Julian Alvarez to close the ‘keeper down and deflect his panicked clearance inches wide. Eddie Nketiah tried to ease Arsenal’s stress when he cut inside the City area and curled wide of the far post. Frantically waving his arms to the crowd, Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard raised the decibel levels before Mateo Kovacic brought the atmosphere to boiling point. Earlier, Liverpool missed the chance to go second in the Premier League as the Reds were pegged back in a pulsating 2-2 draw at Brighton on Sunday, while Newcastle were also held 2-2 by West Ham.
Manchester City can go back to the top of the table later when they travel to Arsenal in a clash between last season's top two. A point leaves Liverpool three points behind leaders Tottenham and after their justified fury in losing to Spurs last weekend when a goal was wrongly ruled out by a VAR error, Jurgen Klopp's men will feel aggrieved at another refereeing decision. Pascal Gross somehow avoided a red card when pulling down Dominik Szoboszlai for a penalty that led to Liverpool's second goal just before half-time.
The visitors had been given the run around by Brighton in the opening half hour. Alexis Mac Allister struggled on his return to the Amex Stadium and was one of the culprits for the opening goal. The Argentine was caught in possession by Simon Adingra, who then caught Alisson Becker out of position by taking his shot early from outside the box. After a bright start to the season, Brighton have now won just once in six games as the rigours of European football have told on Roberto De Zerbi's men.
The Seagulls' daring approach has won plenty of plaudits but Liverpool pounced on their weaknesses to turn the game on its head five minutes before the break. Twice Brighton were punished for giving the ball away inside their own half as Harvey Elliot unselfishly allowed Darwin Nunez's pass to find Mohamed Salah to slot home the equaliser. Liverpool's high press then won the penalty as Szoboszlai dispossessed Gross and was pulled down by the German midfielder. Salah confidently dispatched the spot-kick, but Liverpool will ask questions about why they were not up against 10 men for the rest of the game. – AFP