A ruthless Manchester City demolish a hapless Arsenal at the Etihad

Arsenal’s miserable start to the 2021/22 season has taken a further step beyond shame after they were thoroughly and mercilessly beaten at the Etihad by Manchester City, their third straight defeat in a row in the league this season. Meaning they have lost all the league matches they have played this season.

Their bad season started off with a 2-0 defeat by newly-promoted Brentford on the opening day of the season. That was soon followed by Chelsea beating them by the sawm scoreline at the Emirates last weekend and any hopes of a fighting chance were already extinguished at the Etihad in the first 15 minutes when the Citizens scored two.

By the time it was half-time at the Etihad, Arsenal were already two goals and a man down after Granit Xhaka was sent off for a bad challenge on Cancelo. Manchester City went into the break planning how to add more goals with Arsenal thinking of how to stop conceding.

Mohamed Elneny was brought in at the break to help steady the midfield but that was not enough to hold the rampaging Citizens who were bent on adding more goals as has always been their case in such games.

Lacazette replaced Aubameyang with barely two minutes to the hour mark but he too could not provide the goals the Gunners needed to fight back. Maitland-Niles was the last card Arteta tossed into the game in place of Odegaard but it was already too late for a comeback with the Gunners down by four goals before the final goal of the match came in with less than six minutes of normal time to play to make it 5 – 0.

It was an unmatched tussle of two opposing sides at the Etihad giving out a result that years ago would have been a shock to the numerous fans who watched it live. The difference was glaringly clear per the effects of the results – one goes to the summit of the table temporarily and the other to the bottom of the table and would stay there perhaps for as long as a week.

Their defeat meant Arsenal are only the second team in Premier League history to lose their first three matches in a season and have a goal difference of minus 9, after Wolverhampton Wanderers in 2003-04, who went on to finish bottom of the table.

Arteta came to Arsenal through City when he was Guardiola’s assistance and was credited for the Catalans progress in the English league but when he stepped out of the shadows of his former boss, it has been an unsteady journey of mixed fortunes and finally, it could be the last place he would visit before he is dismissed if the voice of the teeming fans is to have an impact in his role at the Arsenal dugout.

But as Aubameyang said post-match – “This is not enough and everyone needs to raise the level, look ourselves in the mirror, work this out as a team and stick together. That is the only way to go forward.” They certainly need to work out as a team and in a positive direction.

By: Clifford Adumbire | myactiveonline.com

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