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Manchester City came from behind to beat Arsenal 2-1 at the Etihad Stadium yesterday and move to second place above their opponents in the Premier League standings.
The visitors had deservedly led at the break thanks to Theo Walcott’s early strike, only to throw away their advantage for the second match in a row.
Leroy Sane brought City level straight after half-time, before Raheem Sterling won the game with a goal 19 minutes from time.
As a result, the home team have jumped up to second in the table, albeit still seven points behind pace-setters Chelsea, while the Gunners have dropped to fourth.
Arsenal opted to stiffen up their midfield by bringing in Alex Iwobi for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain in the one alteration from the team that suffered their first away defeat of the season at Everton on Tuesday night.
Meanwhile, City made two changes from the side that beat Watford 2-0 in midweek, Fernando replacing Ilkay Gundogan, who suffered a serious knee injury in that game, and Leroy Sane coming in for Nolito.
However, for the first time this season, Pep Guardiola kept the same back five for two league games in a row after their shut-out against the Hornets, meaning John Stones had to once again settle for a place on the substitutes’ bench.
That continuity in defence made little difference, though, as Arsenal opened the scoring just five minutes in after a quick-fire move that took just 16 seconds to go from back to front. Petr Cech started the move by rolling the ball out to Hector Bellerin, who strode forward unchallenged into the City half before finding Alexis Sanchez.
The Chile international’s brilliant reverse pass then picked out Walcott’s run in the box, with the forward making no mistake to score his 11th goal in all competitions this campaign, and his fourth in his last four games against City.
However, that lead was very nearly wiped out within minutes as City worked the ball out wide to Kevin De Bruyne and the Belgian’s brilliant cross from the left was somehow headed wide of the gaping goal by Sterling, playing the lone front role in place of the suspended Sergio Aguero.
Incredibly, it took the home team until the final minute of the first half to have their first effort on target, a Yaya Toure header straight at Cech, as the Gunners looked to produce a repeat performance to when they won 2-0 at City in January 2015.
But all the visitors’ good work in the first half was soon forgotten as City drew level two minutes after the interval as the Gunners went a 12th game in a row without keeping a clean sheet.
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