Arsenal and Man City on Sunday played out a goalless draw
that see both sides fall behind Liverpool in the Premier League title race
Liverpool were the big winners of the day in the title race
as they beat Brighton 2-1 to go top, two points ahead of Arsenal and three
clear of City with nine games to play.
A share of the spoils preserves City’s unbeaten home run
stretching back to November 2022 and ends Arsenal’s eight-match winning run in
the Premier League.
But it is the Gunners who will be happier with a point as
they prevented Pep Guardiola’s men from scoring at the Etihad for the first
time in two years.
City dominated possession but struggled to make anything of
it against a defence that has conceded the fewest number of goals in the
Premier League this season.
Arsenal have also been in free-scoring form at the other
end, netting 33 times during their eight-match winning streak.
However, the visitors had lost on their last eight trips to
the Etihad, including a 4-1 thrashing as the title race swung decisively in Man
City’s favour last season, and opted for a counter-attacking approach.
Gabriel Jesus came into the Arsenal side on his return to
the Etihad and had the visitors best effort of a shot-shy first half when he
dragged wide from the edge of the box.
Nathan Ake wasted City’s best chance in the firist half when
he failed to connect properly with a dangerous Kevin De Bruyne corner and David
Raya gratefully smothered the loose ball.
Man City were already missing the key defensive duo of Kyle
Walker and John Stones after both were injured on international duty with
England.
And Guardiola was forced to cobble together an even more
makeshift backline when Ake hobbled off on 27 minutes.
Arsenal, though, rarely tested the Man City defence despite
both sides upping the tempo after the break.
Jesus could just not stretch far enough to meet Bukayo
Saka’s cross in the only sign of life from the England international.
Erling Haaland was extremely well-marshalled by Arsenal’s
solid centre-back pairing of Gabriel Magalhaes and William Saliba.
And the Norwegian fluffed his lines when he did get a rare
sight of goal seven minutes from time as he failed to connect with a corner at
the back post.
Arsenal’s best chance to snatch all three points came late
on when substitute Leandro Trossard was released in behind, but the Belgian
fired straight at Stefan Ortega.
Man City’s failure to find a winner means they are still yet
to beat any of the top five in the Premier League this season.
And the champions now need favours from both Liverpool and
Arsenal if they are to become the first side to ever win four consecutive
English top-flight titles.
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