Man City 4 Arsenal 1: Toothless Gunners roll over and put City firmly in control of Premier League title race
WE HAD waited months for this clash of the titans, this title decider – a match even Pep Guardiola described as the Premier League ‘final’.
Champions against leaders, master Pep Guardiola against apprentice Mikel Arteta, a Super Bowl without shoulder pads.
But what it actually boiled down to was this: Erling Haaland against Rob Holding.
Haaland is the finest centre-forward on the planet, destined for all-time greatness.
Holding is a willing lad, signed from Bolton by Arsene Wenger, who would probably make a reasonable centre-half at a lower-end Premier League club.
It was a mismatch of epic proportions – and so, it turned out, was the entire match.
Although it was Kevin De Bruyne who scored twice, Haaland set the tone in the seventh minute, when he contested a high ball against Holding, out-muscled him and out-witted him with a through-ball for De Bruyne’s opener.
Haaland, who scored his 49th of the season in injury-time, twice assisted De Bruyne in a near role-reversal.
More importantly, he bullied Holding and big bad City stole Arsenal’s dinner money.
It is harsh to say it, but you don’t win titles with players like Holding as your first-change centre-half.
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William Saliba’s back injury has done for Arsenal, who have been leaking goals ever since.
‘Whispering Death’ Holding was sent off in the first half of a top-four shoot-out against Tottenham last May, which Arsenal lost 3-0.
He isn’t an elite-level player and there is absolutely no shame in that.
The difference is that City had Aymeric Laporte kicking his heels on the bench. Laporte is first-choice centre-half for Spain and fifth-choice for City.
The sovereign wealth of Abu Dhabi makes paupers out of poor little billionaires like Arsenal’s ruling Kroenke family.
Yet while money certainly talks, it whispers sweet nothings when Guardiola is orchestrating things.
City played gorgeous, intelligent and supremely committed football. They were better than Arsenal in every department and in every way, including attitude.
Arteta said he would ‘kill’ any players who felt the tension of this contest.
It is difficult to say if there was any element of stage fright because Arsenal just aren’t nearly as good as English football’s dominant force.
The thunderous pre-match noise around the Etihad was reminiscent of City’s summit meetings with Liverpool during recent seasons.
But those truly were contests between equals. This was nothing of the sort.
As a result, the Gunners find themselves leading the Premier League in the final week of April but with approximately zero chance of winning it.
City’s two games in hand, their kinder run-in, and their squad depth mean a fifth title in six years is as good as theirs.
We must wait for them to face Real Madrid in the Champions League semi-finals next month before they face a serious challenge – perhaps the only truly serious one on their march towards a potential Treble.
Arsenal had done their best to reduce the overwhelming bigness of this contest by drawing three in a row.
Yet still it was big. You could tell by the media areas, which resembled an episode of Sky Sports’ Premier League Years, with every high-profile player of the early 2000s seemingly here for an appearance fee.
City ought to have been ahead even before they were.
When Ramsdale spilled a De Bruyne centre, Thomas Partey tripped De Bruyne but ref Michael Oliver judged it a foul the other way.
Still, the champions didn’t have to wait long. City enjoyed success with the long ball in their 3-1 win at the Emirates in February and they employed it again to great effect here.
John Stones wellied one upfield towards Haaland, who held off Holding, turned him and fed De Bruyne. The Belgian darted between two defenders and arrowed a low shot past Ramsdale.
It was devastating stuff, like a first-round knockdown in a heavyweight title fight.
Then came that uneven duel again – Haaland beating Holding to a loose ball and releasing De Bruyne, who sprinted through but was this time denied by a block from Ben White.
White doesn’t like football but he is good at it. For a while, he was the only man saving Arsenal from an absolute hiding.
If Holding was Arsenal’s obvious weakness, then makeshift left-back Manuel Akanji, up against Bukayo Saka, was potentially City’s.
Yet when Saka saw an opening down the right, Jack Grealish steamed back and robbed him – another example of the Brummie wide boy maturing and improving his all-round game under Guardiola.
City surged forward, Haaland ploughed through Holding but Ramsdale saved.
Ramsdale denied Holding twice more and the Norwegian also shot narrowly wide after being sent clear.
It was inevitable that City would double their lead and they did so in first-half injury-time.
De Bruyne swung over the free-kick from the right, Stones netted with a skyscraping header at the far post and, while a linesman flagged, VAR David Coote spotted that White had played Stones narrowly onside.
There was still time for a pre-interval flashpoint, when Ruben Dias kicked out at White after a scrap by the corner flag but Oliver showed only a yellow.
After the break, Haaland burst clear again but Ramsdale saved again.
Soon, though, the clinching third when Martin Odegaard – compared to De Bruyne so often but nowhere as influential here – passed straight to Haaland who held off Holding and picked his spot.
At least, late on, there was a moment to cherish for Holding when Odegaard darted in from the right and the centre-half lashed home a consolation.
Yet even after that, Phil Foden’s pass was diverted by Holding into the path of Haaland, who turned and scuffed home virtually the last kick of the match.