EPL: Manchester City beats Emery’s Arsenal

Goals from Sterling and Bernardo Silva clinch a 2-0 victory for Manchester City at the Emirates. A tough start to the season for Emery, as his Arsenal side struggled to keep up with the Champions on many occasions this afternoon and they were lucky to go into the break just one goal behind. However, they rallied in the second half, but couldn’t create any real goal scoring chances.
They started as they left off last season. Not just the champions, Manchester City, who were attacking, imperious and awesome at times but Arsenal also.

The Unai Emery era got off to a defeat which was maybe predictable enough given the opposition but after all the expectation of the Spaniard’s levels of preparation, the analysis, the drills and organisation the defensive failings were all too familiar to what he inherited from Arsene Wenger. It will take time to undo bad habits and it is hard to see players such as Granit Xhaka and Shkodran Mustafi fitting in.

Arsenal tried to go toe-to-toe with City but were just not up to it – not yet anyway – and, for example, they eventually abandoned the routine of trying to play the ball out from the back as they constantly gave away possession under pressure. When goalkeeper Petr Cech played it long there were ironic cheers.

Arsenal looked like what they are – a team searching for an identity and a way forward. City looked like what they are – a team determined to retain the Premier League title and laid down another marker of that intent with goals from Raheem Sterling and Bernardo Silva in each half.

Arsenal Man City

The only criticism would be the number of opportunities City spurned because this could have been a far more emphatic score-line and probably deserved to be.

Sterling’s goal encapsulated Arsenal’s enduring frailty as he ran across goal easily evading Hector Bellerin and Matteo Guendouzi, with milky efforts to stop him, and shot right-footed past Cech for his 50 Premier League goal. The goalkeeper, selected ahead of new signing Bernd Leno and given the captaincy, seemed to react late having taken up a bad position in the first place and looked ponderous throughout although he did well to later deny Aymeric Laporte from close-range.

Just after the hour Sergio Aguero should have sealed it when Guendouzi – on his debut and looking a little out of his depth – completely mis-judged the flight of the ball and allowed the striker to run free on goal from his own half only for Cech to turn away his shot.

CREDIT: REUTERS

No matter City immediately attacked again with Sterling and Benjamin Mendy combining for the defender to cut the ball back. Bernardo Silva, once more impressing, struck it superbly left-footed and high into the net to end any doubt over the result.

Arsenal worked hard; they created half-chances but there was another familiar failing as they attempted to walk the ball into the net. Emery has work to do.

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