An English Premier league match which everyone wanted to see today was the game between the contenders for the English Premier league title.
The current league leaders, Arsenal came into this game with a few unpleasant results, as they were expected to keep the momentum going in order to maintain the lead against a resilient Mancity team under Pep Guardiola. Rather, they drew their last 3 games against Liverpool, Westham United and Southampton, who are bottom of the league.
Despite all of these, the game with City, although not an easy game, could have changed Arsenal's fortune. What they needed was a proper game plan and most importantly; the right mentality 🧠
The party started early for Mancity, with Erling Haaland switching roles with Kevin DeBruyne by giving him an assist for the first goal, just within the first 7 minutes.
A one goal lead doesn't mean much generally in football, as it can easily be overturned at anytime. However, anyone who watched that game could see that it was pretty much game over for Arsenal, as City kept on piling attack after attack. The Arsenal team that has been know through out the season to know how to put passes together couldn't even bark, talk more of bite.
And as expected, City scored a second goal from a set piece - Debruyne put in a beautiful cross past the Arsenal backline only for John Stones to head it in for 2 - 0. It was initially ruled out for offside but after the review by the VAR, City were rightly awarded the goal.
Going into the locker room at this point, Arteta needed to say the right things and use the best strategy if he wanted to overturn this. Besides, both Liverpool and Westham came back from a two goal lead against Arsenal to draw the game. Nothing was stopping Arsenal from doing the same. After all, they were considered as tittle contenders. This was an opportunity to show how serious they were about winning the EPL.
What happened? City added more pain to the injury by extending their lead to 3 - 0. Some said at this point that it was game over but to be honest, it was pretty much game over from the beginning. The loss obviously didn't come from the score line. Rather, it came from the mentality of the Arsenal players. Arsenal showed no class and too much respect for City to say the least.
The only thing Arsenal could have bragged about at this point of the game was that at least they had restricted Erling Haaland from being on the score sheet.
After a few changes by both managers, Arsenal got a consolation goal, through an unexpected player, Rob Holding from a Trossard assist making it 3 - 1.
Eventually, bad turned to worse for Arsenal as Haaland finally did it. He scored late in the game to make it 4 - 1.
Erling Haaland
The game wasn't as interesting as a lot of football lovers or neutrals would have wanted, as everyone loves an underdog story. It was just sad seeing a team who are top of the table losing not just the game but the mind game as well. City played with class and finesse while Arsenal were just terrible, as their mentality was as clear as broad day light. The mentality of a small club, despite their great history and position on the table.
Despite the loss, Arsenal are still top of the league but Mancity still have 2 games in hand. A team with the right mentality would still keep their focus while hoping that City drop points. Rather, what is expected is that Arsenal go ahead to drop more points rather than turn things around. Perhaps we will have to wait till next season to see the title taken away from Mancity.
Battle of the top 4
On a different note, Newcastle are hoping to return to the Champions league despite being there last about 20 years ago. They made a clear statement after beating Tottenham hospur 6 - 1 in their last outing.
After the humiliation by Newscastle, Tottenham had to save face by letting their Coach go. A further gesture was made by the club - they returned the money for the match tickets to their fans. Hopefully, this would be enough to turn things around at the Tottenham hospur stadium in their game against Machester United.
The title race might just be over but the battle for the top 4 is definitely still on. Which clubs from England will progress to the Champions league? We just have to wait and see.
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