After a 100 day absence, on the 17th June 2020, the Premier League returned. Following the strain Covid-19 has put on the National Health Service and the recent surge in support for the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement, player’s shirts will feature a blue heart on the chest, and “Black Lives Matter” on the back. Before kick-off there was also a minute’s silence in remembrance of those who had lost their lives in recent months and a taking of the knee from players, staff, and officials to show their support for ‘Black Lives Matter’.
In the earlier kick-off, both goal-line technology and VAR failed Sheffield United in a game that ended goalless; ultimately costing them two points. However, it was the latter of the two matches that had been most anticipated: Manchester City versus Arsenal.
Pep Guardiola set up his Manchester City side in a 4-3-3 formation, with Gabriel Jesus leading the line. Mikel Arteta on the other hand; using the popular 4-2-3-1 formation, while playing Eddie Nketiah up front and opting to put Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in the three behind the young striker – Joe Willock and Bukayo Saka being the other two. In the midfield for City, David Silva, İlkay Gündoğan and Kevin De Bruyne all started, with Gündoğan playing just in front of the defensive line. Granit Xhaka and Mattéo Guendouzi made up the Arsenal midfield, playing in front of a back four of Kieran Tierney, Pablo Marí, Shkodran Mustafi and Héctor Bellerín. Their counterparts being Benjamin Mendy, Aymeric Laporte, Eric García and Kyle Walker. In goal for Arsenal was Bernd Leno. Occupying the City net, Ederson.
The game kicked off, with a heavy rain falling on the Etihad. Right from the start, Manchester City looked the better side, and after just three minutes, De Bruyne forced a nice save from Leno from a free kick. Then, after only five minutes of being on the pitch, Granit Xhaka had to be substituted off for Dani Ceballos with an ankle injury. In the 24th minute, Arsenal’s situation then went from bad to worse when defender, Pablo Marí also had to be substituted off due to an injury. His replacement, David Luiz, is a player who has plenty of experience and has demonstrated his quality both in the Premier League and at the World Cup. Arsenal’s goalkeeper, Leno, who throughout the first half showcased his brilliant shot-stopping ability, would surely not be let down by such a seasoned professional. Well, on the brink of half time, the inevitable hit Arsenal square in the thigh of David Luiz. An awkward deflection off the Brazilian’s leg helped De Bruyne’s ball reach its intended target, Raheem Sterling, who had no problem firing the ball past Bernd Leno.
Arsenal however, where not giving up. They had abandoned their first half strategy of just booting the ball up to an attacking player in the hopes that they would deal with it and were now attempting to run the ball as far up the pitch as possible, in the hopes that there were no opposition players between them and the goal. An approach that also provided no answers. Despite City’s domination of the game, Leno was putting in a solid performance. However, it was not too long until David Luiz decided to make Arsenal’s day even worse. Mahrez, a player with great pace had beaten Luiz and was through on goal. However, a beaten Luiz was not giving up, and in an attempt to halt Mahrez, pulled him back. Of course, Mahrez hit the deck and the referee, Anthony Taylor had no choice but to point to the penalty spot. Again, to the surprise of very few, De Bruyne coolly converted the penalty to make it 2-0. What did come as a surprise, however, was Luiz’s sending off, as on the surface the foul lacked malice. However, an attempt to foul a player without any desire for the ball is punishable by dismissal.
The nature of the game had now changed and with Arsenal being handed an advantage, anything was possible. However, when considering the mammoth of a task ahead of them, in fact nothing was possible. Manchester City were playing like league champions, and a mid-table Arsenal team were certainly not going to stop them. In the 65th minute, David Silva made way for youngster Phil Foden, who would go on to put the nail in Arsenal’s coffin in injury time. Overall, it was a disappointing performance from an Arsenal who were outclassed by a far superior Manchester City. 10 minutes into stoppage time however, Arsenal made a rare advance at goal, but nothing came of it. The unusually high amount of time added on resulted from a collision between the City keeper Ederson and his defender, Eric García. It was apparent that García required a lot of attention and was subsequently sent to hospital. Fortunately, it has been said by his teammate Aymeric Laporte that, “he’s OK fam, he just needs a couple days to rest but he will be fine soon enough”.
For me, Kevin De Bruyne had an excellent game, displaying a passing ability held by very few others. Despite the scoreline, Bernd Leno’s performance was of a high standard and was considerably let down by a lack of quality from the defence in front of him. It’s highly unlikely Liverpool will lose the title at this stage and I believe it’s a good few games too late for Manchester City.
Joe Avery Reynolds 