The great battle between Man City and Arsenal at the Etihad Stadium on the morning of April 27 really attracted fans by the important nature of a “six-point match” or “early final” in the Premier League.
Coming to the Etihad as a guest in the context that only defeating coach Pep Guardiola’s team could hope to regain confidence after a series of declines, Arsenal almost had to endure the fierce attacks of the host. Man City.
Right in the 7th minute, from the start of the attack to the half of the field of goalkeeper Ederson, Erling Haaland stopped the ball and then smoothly passed in the direction of Kevin de Bruyne’s movement. The Bi midfielder sped up, escaped very quickly and then shot a long shot, defeating the entire Arsenal defense and goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale.
Arsenal’s keeper played excellently, blocking almost every attack of the home team, which neutralized very dangerous shots from “assassin” Erling Haaland.
In injury time of the first half, De Bruyne took a free kick for John Stones to head into Arsenal’s net. VAR got involved in this situation and determined that John Stones was not in an offside position, so the goal of the Man City defender was recognized.
The irony is that VAR does not reflect the moment the ball left De Bruyne, where John Stones was. “Gunners” fans have a reason to once again complain about VAR, especially the referees who control this system, who tend to defend and support Man City.
With the advantage of 2 goals, Man City still played overwhelmingly in the second half. Without the charm to hunt this match, Erling Haaland did too well the role of an assist.
In the 54th minute, the Norwegian star passed the ball smoothly for De Bruyne to get out and finish, the ball sank into Aaron Ramsdale’s goal. 3-0 for Man City.
Arsenal’s efforts helped the visitors shorten the gap to 1-3 in the 86th minute after a decisive long shot by midfielder Rob Holding.
However, tragedy continued to hit the North London team in the last minute of injury time when Phil Foden passed the ball to Rob Holding’s feet before Haaland escaped, comfortably finishing to set the final 4-1 result for the team. Man City.
Crushing the top team at home, Man City has 73 points in hand, 2 points behind the top team Arsenal, but kicks 2 matches less than the opponent.
Man City is holding the right to self-determine the title of the English Premier League title for the third year in a row if he does not stumble in any match from here to the end of the tournament, even at the stage of having to “clone” to kick the semi-finals of the Champions League with Real Madrid.