Arsenal vs Manchester City Match Report

De Bruyne's first-half masterclass, too much for Ljungberg's Arsenal.

 Manchester City resumed normal service in the Premier League after an emphatic first 45' from Kevin De Bruyne led them to a 3-0 victory over Arsenal.

In a tension filled atmosphere at the Emirates Stadium, it was Manchester City who came out on top against a rudderless Arsenal.

 Arsenal had lost their last 5 games against City, including the League Cup Final, which was Pep Guardiola's first trophy at the Mancunian club.

In Pep's 200th game in charge, Manchester City were hoping to keep a cleansheet, which they had failed to keep in the last 10 games.

Coming into the game, both teams were not in great form. Arsenal's win at West Ham last week was their first in their previous 8 league games. Manchester City, on the other hand, had won only 2 of their last 5 games in the Premier League.

Within the first few seconds, Martinelli bustled through, forcing a fine stop from Ederson. However, from there the hosts toiled going forward and offered City ample opportunities to exploit them on the counter.

The first goal came for in City in the first 90 seconds of the game when Ederson saved Martinelli's shot on goal. Fernandinho played through his Brazilian counterpart Gabriel Jesus who, in turn, put a driven ball into the box, which Kevin De Bruyne fired into the roof of the net. It was an ''ice-cold'' finish from De Bruyne, from a position where many couldn't have scored.

Raheem Sterling scored at the quarter-hour mark to make it 2-0 for the visitors. Kevin De Bruyne played a one-two with Jesus and drifted it across the 6-yard line to Sterling who rolled the ball into an open net.

It was once again Kevin De Bruyne who found the net from distance when the youngster Phil Foden drove the ball gracefully through the Arsenal midfield and played in De Bruyne, who drilled in a long finesse shot past Leno into the bottom corner, making it 3-0 for the visitors on the 45-minute mark.

From thereon in, City went into cruise control. The second half was just a formality. The first half of the game, even for a football purist, was magnificent. They totallly outmaneuvered Arsenal.

Today's goal makes it a staggering 20 goals in 29 games for club and country this season for Raheem Sterling.

Kevin De Bruyne was given the Man Of The Match award. Today, he enjoyed himself more than ever. He had the freedom to roam everywhere on the pitch. Last season, injuries hampered his pogress but today he looked the part.

There was no cohesion, no one was organised, not enough bodies were back on defence for Arsenal. The players didn't seem to know what they were doing. Arsenal, during the match, went on the back pedal. That made life easy for the City players, who work best when they have to find lines in between the opposing defence.

The center-back pairing of Arsenal is just not good enough to play out from the back. They involved themselves in plays which put them in dangerous positions. Arsenal manager, Freddie Ljungberg, needs to tell them not to do so. Else, every week they will give away easy chances to the opposition to get in on goal. 

After the break, it was damage limitation for Arsenal, who tried long balls from the back to the forwards, which did not work. One decision Ljungberg should have taken was to bring on Alex Lacazette and play with two strikers up front. They were already losing, so maybe a second striker would have helped.

With this win, City equalled their club record by scoring in a 20th successive Premier League away match, set previously under Manuel Pellegrini from March 2014-March 2015.

After receiving the MOTM award, Kevin De Bruyne said, ''Every time you lose a game, the best reaction is to win the next game." That is just what they did and in such a masterful way.

This win puts City 4 points behind Leicester and still a mammoth 14 behind league leaders Liverpool. Manchester City take on Oxford United next in the League Cup quarter-finals away from home.

Arsenal continue their search for a permanent manager. But, for the time being, Ljungberg's Arsenal are 9th in the Premier League table, equally close to the top of the table as they are to the relegation zone.