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The Arsenal Cannons End Manchester City’s Season

Arsenal delivered their most dominant performance of the season, demolishing defending champions Manchester City with a stunning 5-1 victory at the Emirates Stadium in the 24th round of the English Premier League.

The Gunners’ goals came from Norwegian captain Martin Ødegaard (2’), Ghanaian midfielder Thomas Partey (56’), young talent Myles Lewis-Skelly (62’), German forward Kai Havertz (76’), and Ethan Nwaneri (90+3’). Meanwhile, City’s only response came from Erling Haaland (55’).

With this result, City now trails league leaders Liverpool by 15 points, while Arsenal closed the gap to just six points behind the Reds, who secured a 2-0 win over Bournemouth on Saturday. However Liverpool hold a game in hand against Everton, scheduled for February 12.

This marked City’s seventh defeat of the season and the heaviest loss in Pep Guardiola’s managerial career. The crushing defeat comes at a critical time as City prepares for two high-stakes clashes against Real Madrid in the Champions League playoff on February 11 and 19. Sandwiched between those fixtures, they will host Newcastle on February 15, before facing a crucial home showdown against Liverpool on February 23, followed by away games against Tottenham and Nottingham Forest.

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta tactically outmaneuvered his former mentor Guardiola, having previously served as his assistant at City before taking charge of the London club. Arteta seized the opportunity to exploit City’s vulnerabilities, guiding his team to an emphatic win despite the absence of one of their key players, Bukayo Saka, who was sidelined with an injury and watched from the stands.

Guardiola Blames His Players?

Arsenal applied intense pressure on the visitors from the outset, forcing a defensive mistake that allowed Martin Ødegaard to open the scoring.

Manchester City, featuring their new Egyptian international signing Omar Marmoush in the starting lineup for the second consecutive match since his move from Eintracht Frankfurt, managed to equalize early in the second half through their striker Erling Haaland. The Norwegian’s goal took his league tally to 19 this season, placing him second in the top scorers’ race—just two goals behind Liverpool’s Egyptian star Mohamed Salah, who earlier extended his lead with a brace in the Reds’ victory over Bournemouth.

However, Arsenal struck back immediately, restoring their lead within a minute before running riot with three more goals. The score line could have been even more exploited without the efforts of City’s German goalkeeper Stefan Ortega, who made several crucial saves.

Guardiola addressed the heavy defeat, admitting, “What happened, happened. We were far from our usual level and conceded too many goals. Our reaction lasted only 15 or 16 minutes. When the score was 1-2 and then 1-3, things didn’t go as they should have.”

He subtly pointed to a lack of effort from his players, stating, “There are duties that players must fulfill, and they didn’t do so. We have a few days to rest and prepare for the upcoming matches.”

Speaking about new signing Omar Marmoush, who made his second consecutive start since joining from Eintracht Frankfurt, Guardiola said, “He played well. It’s not easy to adapt to the league, especially when your first two games are against Chelsea and Arsenal.”

He elaborated, “Of course, any game at this stadium is difficult, especially against this team in the opening minutes. But after 15 minutes, I thought we played really well. After equalizing at 1-1, we tried to adjust by pushing Marmoush into a second striker role, but we conceded two quick goals.”

He added, “I regret the last 25 minutes. The rest of the game was actually quite good for us. It’s hard to understand when you see the final score, but that’s how I feel right now.”

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