Manchester City lost in the Premier League for a second week in a row, as Pep Guardiol's side were beaten 1-0 by Arsenal on Sunday.
It was a tight and tense affair at the Emirates, with neither side willing to over commit, but a late strike from Gabriel Martinelli secured a huge three points for last season’s runners-up, against the Premier League champions.
City could have taken the lead twice within the first four minutes with Josko Gvardiol’s off-balance shot from a corner headed off the line by Declan Rice, seconds before Nathan Ake didn’t connect brilliantly with a shot at the back post and skewed his effort over the bar.
Arsenal goalkeeper David Raya had a twitchy start to the game and saw his kick out blocked by Julian Alvarez in the 17th minute, but thankfully for the former Brentford stopper, the ball bounced into the side netting rather than the Arsenal goal.
Yet after that, the Gunners grew into proceedings and were the better side for the remaining stages of the first half. Eddie Nketiah produced the hosts’ best chance of the first half as he cut inside and flashed a shot wide, while ex-City man Oleksandr Zinchenko twice saw efforts from outside the area blocked.
But the biggest talking point of the opening 45 minutes was referee Michael Oliver’s decision not to send off Mateo Kovacic. The Chelsea man was just shown a booking for a tackle on Martin Odegaard, an outcome VAR agreed with, although it could easily have been upgraded. A few minutes later and there was no denying Kovacic was fortunate not to pick up a second booking after lunging in and catching Rice.
When the second half began, Arsenal were still in the driving seat, with Martin Odegaard firing over from distance, while the recently introduced Martinelli forced Ederson into making a comfortable save at his front post.
But that bright start didn’t last and both sides seemed happy with a draw. It was a solid defensive display from the teams, with no chances of note from the 51st minute until the final minutes. Arsenal did have more of the ball during the second half, but tended to play mainly in front of the City defence rather attempting to make advances in behind the defence.
But the Gunners did manage to grab a late winner in the 87th minutes when Kai Hevertz knocked the ball down to Martinelli at the edge of the box and the winger looked to arch a shot into the far corner, but it deflected off Nathan Ake, wrong-footing Ederson, and the ball flew into the opposite side of the goal.
City couldn't find a response and didn't create any chances after that Martinelli strike, in what was a hugely disappointing afternoon for Guardiola's side. Here's how we rated the City players...
1. Ederson- 6
His distribution was excellent again, and Ederson only faced one shot on target other than the goal.
2. Kyle Walker- 6
Tried to push up on the right and offer support to City’s attacking players in the first half. Walker found Martinelli a real handful after his half-time introduction and had some awkward moments trying to contain him.
3. Ruben Dias- 7
Didn’t make many mistakes and defended well.
4. Nathan Ake- 7
Similar to Dias, although Ake should have done better with an early chance in the game. The Dutchman was unfortunate the ball deflected in off him for Martinelli’s goal.