On February 16, in the 12th round of the Premier League supplementary match, Manchester City defeated the leader Arsenal 3-1 as a guest. With 51 points in the same situation, Manchester City dominated the list with the advantage of goal difference.
Arsenal's record of 1 draw and 2 losses in the past 3 rounds has lost 8 points, while they only lost 7 points in the first 19 rounds of the Premier League, and their state has fallen into a trough.
Manchester City beat leaders
The average age of Arsenal's starting lineup for this campaign is 24.5, much younger than Manchester City's 28.2.
Youth is the advantage of the Gunners. The "youth storm" they blew has destroyed many powerful enemies, but this round is facing the more seasoned Manchester City. It is a shortcoming, and its specific performance is a mistake-Manchester City midfielder De Blau Nei opened the scoring with a lob shot in the 24th minute, which was intercepted by Arsenal defender Fu Anjianyang's return pass; Manchester City midfielder Grealish scored a goal that exceeded the score again, also at the foot of the opponent's 25-year-old central defender Gabriel The ball was robbed, which made Harland, Gundogan and Grealish play smoothly.
In fact, Arsenal had a lot of chances to score in this campaign. Unexpectedly, Enkadia missed the goal with two headers, and Fu Anjianyang fired a "sky cannon".
Even Saka's penalty kick was a bit reluctant. Nketiah's shot from a small angle was kicked by Manchester City defender Ake on the goal line. The referee whistled for a foul by Manchester City goalkeeper Ederson. A penalty was awarded.
Judging from the slow-motion playback, the physical contact between the two sides was after the shot kicked off the feet, so the penalty kick is controversial.
On the other hand, Manchester City not only scored 3 goals, but Rodri headed the goal, and the ball bounced off the crossbar.
Manchester City are clearly more of a threat than Arsenal.
The ball possession rate in this campaign was 36% to 64%, and Manchester City was actually at a disadvantage. This is far from their usual 70% ball possession rate in the past.
As the saying goes: When things go wrong, there must be demons.
After all, Manchester City coach Guardiola is an outstanding representative of the pass-and-control style of play. I am afraid that this situation occurred on purpose.
The shooting ratio in this campaign is 9 to 10, and Manchester City only has one less, which shows that their offensive efficiency is also high in a state of low possession rate; the shooting ratio of 6 to 1 shows that Manchester City has created more goals than Arsenal. ball chance.
Arteta loses again
One of the highlights of this campaign is the master-student battle.
Arsenal coach Arteta was the former assistant of Manchester City coach Guardiola, but the apprentice lost to the master again.
After Arteta became the head coach of Arsenal, he played against Guardiola's Manchester City 9 times in all competitions, with a record of only 1 win and 8 losses, of which 4 home games were all lost.
Since taking office at the end of 2019, Arteta has brought a lot of changes to Arsenal, and their league ranking has gradually improved, from 8th to 5th, and then occupied the top position for a long time this season.
But what I have to say is that the Arsenal team is still young, and there are more ups and downs than an experienced team like Manchester City, especially in the key games, strength is only one aspect of it, sometimes it depends It's more about game experience and psychological resilience. From this level, the Arsenal boys are not mature enough.
As far as Arteta is concerned, although he is already a leader among young coaches, compared with his teacher Gua Shuai, he is still not as good.
Although Arsenal star Henry said after the game that losing to Manchester City does not mean that the team is useless, but it has to be said that Arsenal has fallen from the altar and fell behind the defending champion.
Yangzi Evening News