Manchester City extended their lead at the top of the Premier League to eight points after they comprehensively beat top six rivals Arsenal 3-1 at the Etihad Stadium.
Pep Guardiola’s men came into the game off the back of an impressive 4-2 win away to Napoli in the Champions League to cement their place in the last 16. It was also the game that Sergio Aguero broke the record of all-time goals for City as he netted the crucial third goal. Opponents Arsenal were held to a bore draw with Red Star Belgrade in the Europa League as they looked to rest their main players for this weekend’s match.
City opened the scoring in the match through Kevin De Bruyne, after his one-two with Fernandinho opened up space for him to hit a driven shot past Petr Cech. City could, and probably should, have been further ahead if it wasn’t for misplaced final passes and the occasional miss. Leroy Sane and Raheem Sterling were particularly guilty of wasting chances in this game, which Pep Guardiola will to improve on before their next game against Leicester in two weeks.
Early in the second half, City were awarded a penalty after Nacho Monreal clumsily bundled into Sterling, which gave Sergio Aguero the pleasure of doubling City’s lead from the spot to get his 179th goal for the club. After that, Arsenal worked themselves back into the game, and were awarded for their efforts when substitute Alexandre Lacazette found the net after the Citizens were split open by the away side’s counter-attack.
Despite their comeback, City killed the game after David Silva’s pass, which should have been flagged for offside, found Gabriel Jesus for an easy tap-in. The home side were the deserving winners of a match that really showed their title credentials.
Here are our player ratings from the match.
