Pep Guardiola delivered a tactical masterclass as the defending Premier League champions ran out 4-1 winners over their nearest rivals
That's that then. The Premier League title race has been one of the best in recent memory, but surely it's over now after Manchester City's mauling of Arsenal on Wednesday?
Pep Guardiola's side ran out 4-1 winners over the Gunners, as Kevin De Bruyne led the way with two goals amid an impressive attacking performance from the Belgian playmaker.
John Stones and Erling Haaland also got on the scoresheet with goals at the end of each half, with Rob Holding's late strike only a consolation for Mikel Arteta's outmatched side.
Arsenal actually remain top of the table with a two-point lead, but having dropped nine points in their last four matches and with City still having two games in hand on them, it seems inevitable that the Gunners will now come up short.
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City, meanwhile, are now well and truly on the treble hunt. The Premier League is almost in the bag, they are in the FA Cup final and are two games against Real Madrid away from the Champions League showpiece. Can anyone stop them in this kind of form?
GOAL breaks down the winners & losers from the Etihad Stadium…
Getty ImagesWINNER: Kevin De Bruyne & Erling Haaland's partnership
Usually, De Bruyne is the one administering Haaland’s goal feasts, but here their roles were reversed, and it was the Norwegian who was fuelling City’s goalscoring.
Haaland kept dropping deeper into midfield, winning a host of battles with Arsenal players, and every time he got hold of the ball, rather than heading for goal, he looked for De Bruyne.
Take nothing away from the Belgian, though, who stormed through the middle and produced an exquisite finish into the bottom corner for the opening goal.
Haaland was strangely profligate in front of goal for much of the night and it fell upon De Bruyne to put the game well and truly out of Arsenal’s reach with another finish which oozed class, sliding the ball through the legs of Rob Holding and into the bottom corner.
But guess who had provided the pass? It was Haaland again, taking advantage of a loose pass from his compatriot Martin Odegaard.
It would not have been right for such a symbolic game to end without Haaland scoring, and he duly delivered deep in added time to beat Mohamed Salah’s record of 32 goals in a 38-game Premier League season.
AdvertisementLOSER: Thomas Partey
You need your big players to step up in big games and there are few players at Arsenal bigger than Thomas Partey when it comes to their importance to the team.
This was always going to be a match where the Gunners needed Partey to try and stamp his authority on the game to bring some control to the midfield.
But the Ghana international struggled throughout. He simply couldn’t deal with De Bruyne, who was drifting into areas behind Partey and constantly pulling the strings for the home side.
The way the City skipper eased past Partey in the build-up to the first goal was really poor from an Arsenal point of view.
Yes, Rob Holding could maybe have dealt with the high ball better before Haaland played it to De Bruyne. But Partey seemed to be running in second gear as the Belgium international just waltzed past him and into the space between the centre-backs.
That passage of play summed up Partey’s night really. He just couldn’t get close to De Bruyne and City’s captain dominated the game as a result.
Getty ImagesWINNER: Pep Guardiola
Against the best team in the league aside from his own, Guardiola's side produced their best performance of the season.
City dominated every aspect of the game. In certain spells they sent Arsenal into a spin with their impeccable short passing game, moving the ball across the turf at lightning pace and not allowing their opponents near it. Moments later they were playing long punts down field and Haaland was monstering Granit Xhaka or Odegaard.
Jack Grealish was winning every physical duel while Haaland was intercepting and playing delightful outballs. It was a complete performance and Guardiola is responsible for it.
The coach crafted the perfect game plan while juggling two other competitions and after losing Nathan Ake to injury.
The master beats the student once again.
Getty ImagesLOSER: Rob Holding
This was always going to be a very difficult night for Holding. It was obvious that City were going to target him and that Haaland would look to get himself one-on-one against him as much as possible.
The question was how was Holding going to be able to deal with that. It didn’t take long for the answer to become clear.
Arsenal’s centre-back just couldn’t cope. He tried to play on the front foot and press high, but City just played the ball around him and then raced into the space that he had vacated.
To be fair to Holding, there are very few defenders that could live with Haaland in this type of mood. and it must be remembered that William Saliba was given a torrid time by the City striker in the game at the Emirates.
But there’s no doubt Saliba’s injury and Holding’s inclusion in the side has had a huge impact on Arsenal’s season. It is not a coincidence that results have nosedived as a result.
To Holding’s credit, he did take his goal very well late on, but that can’t and won’t mask his obvious deficiencies.
