BREAKING NEWS
Breaking

728x90

468x60

Manchester City vs Arsenal: Live commentary



Good afternoon and welcome to Nigerianeye's live text coverage of the Premier League clash between top-four duo Manchester City and Arsenal.


A few months ago this would have been earmarked as a possible title-decider, but both City and Arsenal have faded away as Leicester City grew stronger and stronger, yesterday collecting the title.

The goal now is to secure a place in the top four with Manchester United closing in, especially on neighbours City.


ARSENAL: Cech; Bellerin, Gabriel, Koscielny, Monreal; Elneny, Ramsey; Sanchez, Iwobi, Welbeck; Giroud

ARSENAL SUBS: Ospina, Gibbs, Coquelin, Wilshere, Cazorla, Campbell, Walcott


MANCHESTER CITY: Hart; Sagna, Otamendi, Mangala, Clichy; Navas, Fernando, Fernandinho, De Bruyne; Iheanacho, Aguero

MANCHESTER CITY SUBS: Caballero, Angelino, Demichelis, Delph, Toure, Sterling, Bony
















Thanks for joining our live coverage of the match. Until next time!

Arsenal score with their only two shots on target to earn a point at the Etihad, opening the door for Manchester United to get into the top four. If the Red Devils win their last two matches, they will be back in the Champions League!

90+4 min FULL-TIME: MAN CITY 2-2 ARSENAL

90+3 min If Giroud gets his head up, Walcott is away! He wins a free kick though and that should be that.

90+2 min BOOKING! Fernandinho has a kick at Giroud and he gets a yellow too.

90+1 min BOOKING! Otamendi wipes out Sanchez to go into the book.

90+1 min Just THREE minutes of added time...

88 min OFF THE BAR! Wow! Sagna crosses from the right and Bony produces a beautifully-timed sidefoot volley that slaps back off the face of the bar. So close!

87 min "HANDBALL!" scream De Bruyne and Aguero and although it hit Gabriel's hand, that is not a penalty. Right by his side and he didn't move it at all.

86 min Koscielny heads against THE BAR, but he was well offside from Sanchez's free kick. Started his run way too early. Imagine if Arsenal nicked it!

83 min It all feels very tense at the Etihad. City fans will know that a point today opens the door for United to go above them in midweek

80 min So, with about 10 minutes to go it's 2-2 and City are on course to keep up their record of not beating any of the top five this season. Pretty remarkable, that.

79 min CITY SUBS: Pellegrini's last two changes as Ivorian duo Bony and Toure come on for Navas and Fernando.

76 min ARSENAL SUB: Like-for-like change here as Coquelin takes Elneny's place in defensive midfield.

74 min CLOSE! Anything Arsenal can do, De Bruyne and Aguero can do better! Gorgeous interplay between the two as De Bruyne scoops the ball over for the run of Aguero, whose first-time volley beats Cech but also goes just wide of the far post. So close!

73 min A half-chance for Aguero at the back post from the corner as he pulls away to meet De Bruyne's deep delivery. Really difficult to hit on the volley and he drags it wide.

72 min SAVE! De Bruyne takes the resulting free kick from a a tight angle. Curling it over the wall but it's an easy save for Cech as he punches it out.

71 min BOOKING! Arsenal centre-back Gabriel blocks off De Bruyne on the left edge of the box.

71 min MAN CITY SUB: Cazorla was about to come on for Arsenal, but Wenger has told him to wait for the time being. It's City who make a change, with Sterling on for Iheanacho. 4-2-3-1 for the home side now.

68 min Oh yeah! After going close moments earlier, Arsenal do finish off a lovely move this time. Sanchez feeds it into Giroud and the striker does so, so well to outmuscle Otamendi and flick the ball around the corner for Sanchez, who looks up and calmly sends Hart the wrong way from 15 yards. Really nice goal.

68 min GOAL! MAN CITY 2-2 ARSENAL (ALEXIS SANCHEZ)

67 min CHANCE! Fabulous football from Arsenal. One-touch passing down the right before Giroud finds the perfectly-timed run of Walcott. His first touch is OK, but Hart is out quickly and Walcott can only lift it wide

66 min Chance for Arsenal! Clichy tries to read Ramsey's pass to Walcott, but the Welshman produces a superb through-ball inside the full-back. Walcott has Giroud in the middle, but Otamendi again cuts it out. Another fine interception by the Argentine.

61 min Giroud again involved as a loose ball pops his way, but he comically gets right under his volley and slices it high and wide. City's fans liked that one.

60 min SUPERB defensive clearance from Otamendi to deny Giroud a shooting opportunity. Moments later the ball did reach the Frenchman, but he was offside and headed over anyway.

59 min ARSENAL SUB: Iwobi has had a quiet game, so it's no surprise to see him taken off for Theo Walcott.

57 min Arsenal aren't happy as referee Anthony Taylor gets in the way of Wilshere's ball to Iwobi, but the ref couldn't do much there.

54 min City's tails are up and they have a great chance on the break as Iheanacho brings it forward. He has Navas to the right and Aguero to the left, but goes himself and makes a real mess of it by tamely shooting a good few yards wide.

51 min City restore their lead! It's a bit of a bolt from the blue as De Bruyne holds off the attention of several Arsenal players before drilling low into the corner from 20 yards. Again Cech is beaten at his near post, but it was a pinpoint finish from the Belgian. Can remember a few times this season that Cech has just failed to reach those type of low shots at his near post.

51 min GOAL! MAN CITY 2-1 ARSENAL (KEVIN DE BRUYNE)

49 min Fernandinho has a half-chance for City as he bursts away down the right, but his shot sails wide of the near post.

46 min KICKOFF! Back underway at the Etihad, with no changes from either manager at the break. Arsenal have already made one sub, remember.


All square at the interval, with Giroud heading home exactly two minutes after Aguero's opener. That all happened in the first 10 minutes and since then it's been pretty tame, with City the better of the two teams. Welbeck had to go off injured for Arsenal, but apart from that, there wasn't too much else of note. We'll be back soon for the second half.


45+3 min HALF-TIME: MAN CITY 1-1 ARSENAL

45+1 min De Bruyne has had a quiet half and he's just tried to change that with a shot from about 25 yards that he got so far under. Hilariously skied!

45 min Two minutes of added time before we take a break for half time.

41 min After what was a frantic start, it's all gone very quiet at the Etihad, especially in the last 10 minutes or so. But for one lapse in concentration from Clichy, City would be ahead and maybe further in front. A draw doesn't do either of these any favours and it would mean a win for Man Utd at West Ham in midweek would take them above City going into the final day!

33 min Mangala gets up well at the back post but he can't direct his header on target or back across goal from De Bruyne's cross.

29 min Iwobi's incisive through-ball just fails to reach Ramsey, who would have been through on goal. City the better team, but one pass and Arsenal can really hurt you.

27 min Aguero with some fantastic work to stay on his feet after getting clattered by Arsenal keeper Cech. He then produces a lovely spin to get away from two Arsenal defenders but he can't find Iheanacho in the middle. City fans might just wonder why he can't reproduce this sort of form when it matters in the Champions League.

25 min ARSENAL SUB: Wilshere is allowed on after a couple of minutes where the ball didn't go out of play. Bad news for Welbeck and possibly England, but what a chance for Wilshere to stake his claim for a place in France.

23 min Nope, Welbeck realises that he cannot continue and disconsolately trudges straight down the tunnel! Wilshere strips down and he's about to come on.

22 min OK, he's up and looks all right. He's going to try to run it off.

21 min Having lost Oxlade-Chamberlain for the Euros, could Roy Hodgson be about to suffer another blow? Welbeck is down with what looks like a right knee problem...

19 min City have had two-thirds of the possession so far, which is impressive against a team like Arsenal.

16 min CLOSE! The ball pops up kindly for Aguero about 15 yards out and you're expecting him to slam home, but Arsenal defenders throw their bodies in the way and it's Gabriel who deflects the ball up and over.

15 min It's all calmed down a bit the last few minutes. City were excellent up until the goal, but then switched off at the corner and Giroud made no mistake.

10 min What on earth?! Arsenal had done absolutely nothing for nine minutes and conceded, but now they are level! Giroud it is who heads home from a corner to end his 15-match goal drought in the league, but it all came about after Clichy tried to head the ball back to Hart and the ball flicked the outside of the post before going out for a corner. Mad couple of minutes!

10 min GOAL! MAN CITY 1-1 ARSENAL (OLIVIER GIROUD)

8 min You have to say that was coming! Aguero reaches 24 league goals for the season, level with Jamie Vardy and one behind Harry Kane in the golden-boot race. The Argentinian collected a knockdown and fired inside the near post with his left foot. Great finish!

8 min GOAL! MAN CITY 1-0 ARSENAL (SERGIO AGUERO)

5 min Now it's Aguero who wriggles through one challenge before flashing a dangerous cross all the way across the six-yard box. Arsenal are on the back-foot here.

4 min Threatening again from City as De Bruyne's inswinging free kick goes all the way through to Cech, who does well to hold on under pressure from several blue shirts.

1 min Fast-paced start from the hosts as Iheanacho pounces on a loose Koscielny pass but just plays it behind Aguero.

0 min KICKOFF! And we're off! Arsenal get us underway.
Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday


Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
« PREV
NEXT »

No comments

Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)

Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com