Published 06:50 IST, December 16th 2019
Manchester City continue PL chase after thrashing Arsenal 3-0
Pep Guardiola's side scored three goals in the first half to put the game to bed and continue the chase and remain in a hunt for a third consecutive PL title
A dominant Manchester City defeated Arsenal 3-0 on Sunday evening to arrest the slump and maintain pressure on Liverpool in order to defend the Premier League. Belgian midfielder Kevin De Bruyne scored two spectacular goals to star the match.
Arsenal suffer another defeat
All three goals by Manchester City were scored in the first half, with the blitz beginning as soon as the second minute when Gabriel Jesus pulled back the ball across the goal, which saw Kevin De Bruyne score with a first time finish. Arsenal were not able to recover and the players were left chasing shadows for the rest of the match. The second goal came via the in-form Raheem Sterling and De Bryune put the game to bed after a curling grounded shot beyond the outstretched hands of the Bernd Leno, without who, Pep Guardiola' side would have scored a few more goals.
The pressure has only increased for Arsenal, and have accumulated just 22 points from 17 matches and currently suffering one of the worst starts to the season since the 1970s. The team has been bereft of confidence and it suffered another blow after Sunday's match.
After the match, Freddie Ljungberg said, "I said at half-time that I knew it was hard, especially against City. Liverpool and City are in a league of their own at the moment. I said it's about pride. They had to go out and show in the second half, even if they don't react and I knew it would be difficult to win 4-3, but there should be no chance of them scoring another goal."
He was also asked about the issues that the team has been facing and he said, "I think what we can learn is that we got done on the transitions again. If you look at City, when we were able to counter against them - and that was one of our game plans - they had five yellow cards from bringing us down when we had a chance to counter. That's tactical and they worked on that. That's something that we need to do."
Updated 10:51 IST, December 16th 2019