Mikel Arteta Admits Manchester City Were Better : Mikel Arteta admits the superiority of Manchester City after the team of Pep Guardiola demolished the Gunners by 4-1 on Wednesday in a crucial Premier League game at the Etihad Stadium as playmaker Kevin De Bruyne produced a performance of note.
“The analysis is clear: the better team won the game. They were probably at their best, especially in the first half, and we were nowhere near our level.” , the manager of Thomas Partey , Mikel Arteta is quoted by www.arsenal.com.
Kevin De Bruyne opened the scoring in the 7th minute on the service of Erling Haaland. City made it 2-0 through defender John Stones in the 45th as Mikel Arteta’s side failed to make a single shot on target in the first half.
Guardiola’s side were by far the better football side at the Etihad Stadium.
The Belgian playmaker scored again in the 54th minute to make it 3-0 for the home team and once again it was lethal striker Erling Haaland who provided the assist.
The former Borrussia Dortmund attacker Haaland finally got a goal of his own in the 5th minute of additional time after Rob Holding had scored a consolation goal in the 86th minute for the Premier League leaders.
Arsenal still are on top of the Premier League standings on 75 points after 33 games played whilst Manchester City on 73 points in 31 matches played significantly close the gap at the top.
The title advantage however now belongs to the Cityzens who are also in the FA Cup final to be played against city rivals Manchester United.
The Arsenal boss continued :
“When that happens, the gap becomes too big and in the first 30 minutes we didn’t do all the basic things that you have to do against an exceptional team, in terms of competing, winning duels and understanding what the game requires. We got punished and we could have been punished even more.
The stats said at the start of the season that Arsenal were going to finish sixth or seventh. We are where we are with five games to go.
Those players deserve a lot of credit, to be where we are after nine and a half months. There are still five games to play. I’ve been in this country for nearly 22 years and I’ve seen a lot of things; I know how much it shifts from game to game. There are no two equal games in this league.
First of all, we have to lift our players, because they suffered tonight. They played against an exceptional team – they know that. But we’re an exceptional team as well and today we weren’t at the races at the level that was required to win the game.”
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