Manchester City wins a thriller, very comfortable for the Gunners

It is just not easy to beat Manchester City at the moment. The citizens are in a red hot form and without a natural striker in their ranks; the team is scoring just for fun. Nothing changed when they faced Leicester City at the Etihad on Boxing Day. Arsenal, on the other hand, is in terrific form. After a pathetic start to the season, the fans wanted Arteta to leave but he has transformed the club completely and the young guns at Arsenal are probably playing their best football and with that the Gunners are now 4th in the table with 35 points from 19 games.

Right from the first whistle, City simply put their best foot forward as Kevin De Bruyne scored in the 5th minute to put them ahead. In the 14th minute of the match, Riyad Mahrez converted from the spot-kick to make it 2-0 for the Citizens; Ilkay Gundogan made it 3-0 in the 21st minute while Raheem Sterling scored from the spot-kick and made it 4-0 in the 25th minute. Anyone who saw the game or reading this can very well understand that Manchester City was dominating the foxes and Leicester had nothing to offer before the break.

Things quickly turned after the break. James Maddison, who’s in brilliant form, pulled one back in the 55th minute and Ademola Lookman made it 4-2 and it looked like the team was set for a comeback. They got closer to the dream when Kelechi Iheanacho made it 4-3 for the foxes but that’s when Man City changed the scenario of the match. Aymeric Laporte made it 5-3 for the Citizens and then Raheem Sterling completed his brace in the 87th minute from Ruben Dias’ assist and with that; City defeated the Foxes by 6 goals to 3.

It was Man City’s ninth consecutive Premier League win. Speaking to BBC in the post match presser, Sterling said, “We just had to control the game. At 4-0 up you have to kill the game”. He added, “Leicester have some really good players. They didn’t get disheartened and kept going. Credit to them”.

Like City, Arsenal has also been in some terrific form lately. Against Norwich, the Gunners put past 5 and that too without their prolific striker, Aubameyang. Coach Arteta suspended him from the team and he is facing no such issues to win games for the club. Martin Odegaard has been in terrific form and he is showing what a talent he is and what he could have done in Real Madrid. Assisted twice in the first half as Bukayo Saka scored in the 6th minute and Kieran Tierney scored in the 44th minute of the match. Saka completed his brace in the 67th minute while the newly appointed captain Lacazette converted from the spot-kick in the 84th minute to make it 4-0 for the Gunners. Emily Smith Rowe, another brilliant young talent who came to play in the 82nd minute scored in the ‘Fergie time’ to make it 5-0 for the Gunners.

This has been some turn around for Arsenal. They signed some quality young talents in the summer and Arteta is showing what he can actually do as a coach. It definitely took some time for them to make a comeback in the top four but they finally are and the team is doing really good and the fans are hopeful that they can finish in the top four.