Arsenal vs Man City as it happened: Gunners humble champions in title statement

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Evening Standard

·2 febbraio 2025

Arsenal vs Man City as it happened: Gunners humble champions in title statement

Gunners renew rivalry with Pep Guardiola’s side on a huge day in the title race

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Arsenal delivered a statement of intent in the Premier League title race with a 5-1 hammering of champions Manchester City to close the gap at the top to six points on Sunday.

Captain Martin Odegaard gave Arsenal the lead in the second minute after woeful City defending and although Erling Haaland equalised after the break the hosts ran out comfortable winners to extend their unbeaten league sequence to 14.

City were level for less than a minute as Thomas Partey's deflected effort restored Arsenal's lead before teenager Myles Lewis-Skelly netted his first goal for the club.

Kai Havertz made sure there was no way back for Pep Guardiola's side with a sweet finish from a counter-attack and substitute Ethan Nwaneri put the icing on the cake with a stunning curler with the last kick of the game.

Arsenal moved to 50 points from 24 games with Liverpool on 56 having played a game less. City stay a distant fourth with 41 points from 24 games.

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Arsenal settle scores as Hale End humble Man City on night to remember

Well, he knows who he is now. Erling Haaland, meet Myles Lewis-Skelly - he’s just scored, he’s in the corner, and he is, quite frankly, taking the Mick.

With his first Arsenal goal, the academy graduate here delivered the iconic moment of his side’s most significant win of the campaign, a 5-1 drilling of Manchester City that ensures Liverpool are not quite out of sight in the title race yet.

He marked it by co-opting Haaland’s celebration, crossed-legged in a pose of serene meditation while all around him the rest of the Emirates lost its you-know-what. Or perhaps that is, coincidentally, just Lewis-Skelly’s default setting; he was asleep when news of Arsenal’s successful red card appeal broke this week, freeing him up to play here at all.

With half an hour still to play, the lead only two goals at that stage and Haaland having already scored once, you wondered whether the 18-year-old had gone a bit early. Might be tempting fate. Had it been the unfortunate Kai Havertz delivering the jibe, City would almost certainly have come back to win 4-3.

Lewis-Skelly, though, is a young man playing with a frankly nonsensical lack of fear. The idea that a teenage defender without a goal in senior football might pre-plan his response to scoring it against the English champions is in itself joyously obscene.

2 hours ago