Manchester City issued a statement of intent by knocking out Arsenal 1-0 in the FA Cup on Friday.
Nathan Ake’s 64th-minute goal settled the fourth-round match at the Etihad Stadium and the result could yet reverberate through the rest of the season.
Arsenal lead City by five points at the top of the English Premier League, but their seven-game unbeaten run was ended by City, who have three straight wins in all competitions.
Photo: AFP
England’s two best teams have a league showdown at the Emirates Stadium on Feb. 15. For now, City manager Pep Guardiola has gained an edge on his former assistant, Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta.
“I know how difficult it is to beat Arsenal. They lost one game in the Premier League, so I know how difficult it is,” Guardiola said.
Defender Ake was the unlikely match-winner after curling a low shot past goalkeeper Matt Turner.
Arsenal had chances while enjoying the better of the first half. Takehiro Tomiyasu and Leandro Trossard forced saves from City goalkeeper Stefan Ortega, and Eddie Nketiah fired narrowly wide from close range.
The visitors were made to pay when City improved after the break and Ake produced the decisive strike.
“[I’m] really disappointed,” Arteta said. “We could have got much more out of the game. In the big moments in big matches you have to make the difference.”
While a place in the fifth round of the cup was at stake, it was impossible to ignore the wider context of a match between the teams who are the front-runners in the league race.
Arsenal have been in outstanding form, picking up 50 points after 19 games, and playing with a confidence not seen since Arsene Wenger’s title-winning teams of the late 1990s and early 2000s.
As if to underline the fact that the cup is neither team’s priority, Guardiola and Arteta left key players out of their lineups.
Guardiola benched Ederson, Kyle Walker, Joao Cancelo and Bernardo Silva. Arteta left out Aaron Ramsdale, Ben White, William Saliba, Martin Odegaard, Gabriel Martinelli and Oleksandr Zinchenko.
Arsenal’s new signing, Trossard, was given his first start since joining from Brighton & Hove Albion last week.
Despite the changes, Arsenal created the better chances in the first half, but could not make them count.
City began to control the game after the break without creating many clear-cut openings until Ake broke the deadlock.
Substitute Alvarez’s strike from outside the box beat Turner, but came back off the post. Jack Grealish picked up the rebound and laid off to Ake, who hit a first-time effort low into the corner.
Manchester City have reached do-or-die territory in the UEFA Champions League earlier than expected ahead of what Pep Guardiola has described as a “final” against Club Brugge today. City have disproved the suggestion a new format to Europe’s top club competition would remove any jeopardy for the top clubs as Guardiola stares down the barrel of failing to make the Champions League knockout stages for the first time in his career. The English champions have endured a torrid season both in their English Premier League title defense and on the continent. A run of one win in 13 games, which included Champions League
Oklahoma City star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander on Sunday poured in 35 points as the Thunder grabbed a bounce-back 118-108 victory in Portland to push their NBA-best record to 37-8. The Thunder, surprised by the short-handed Dallas Mavericks on Thursday, fended off a late surge from the Trail Blazers to snap their four-game winning streak. Jalen Williams scored 24 points and Isaiah Joe added 16 off the bench. Center Isaiah Hartenstein, back after a five-game absence with a calf injury, added 14 points, 11 rebounds, six assists and a big block. The Western Conference leaders were under pressure late as Portland, trailing by 15 heading
Sumo is walking a “tightrope” as it prepares to stage events outside Japan for the first time in 20 years while also trying to preserve its ancient traditions, experts say. The sport is to hold exhibition tournaments in London in October and in Paris in June next year, the first time the Japan Sumo Association has been abroad since Las Vegas in 2005. Sports such as soccer, baseball and football play domestic games overseas in a bid to gain new fans in emerging markets. John Gunning, a former amateur sumo wrestler who commentates on the sport in English on Japanese television, says its
Cole Perfetti on Friday scored three goals for his first NHL hat-trick as the Winnipeg Jets beat the Utah Hockey Club 5-2. Nikolaj Ehlers had a goal and two assists to reach 500 points for his career, while David Gustafsson also scored for Winnipeg. Connor Hellebuyck had 17 saves. Barrett Hayton and Nick Schmaltz scored for Utah, while Connor Ingram stopped 25 shots. Perfetti gave Winnipeg a 3-2 lead when he lifted the puck over a fallen Ingram on a pass from Vladislav Namestnikov 5 minutes, 51 seconds into the third period. Ehlers stole the puck at his own blue line and raced down
RSS