Sports
Gabriel Martinelli rescues Arsenal and denies Man City smash-and-grab win – 5 talking points
Gabriel Martinelli climbs off the bench to rescue a point for the Gunners in injury time after Mikel Arteta’s side had been frustrated by City’s defence....TAP TO CONTINUE READING
Gabriel Martinelli of Arsenal celebrate
Gabriel Martinelli came good for Arsenal late on
Gabriel Martinelli scored an injury-time goal for Arsenal to puncture a Manchester City defensive masterclass and keep alive the Gunners’ Premier League title ambitions. Erling Haaland’s early goal had allowed Pep Guardiola to adapt his game plan before the late twist changed everything.
Haaland put City ahead with the first shot of the game, streaking clear on the counter-attack to finish coolly from Tijjani Reijnders’ pass. Having struggled to break down City’s defence, Mikel Arteta summoned Bukayo Saka and Eberechi Eze from the bench at half-time.
Gianluigi Donnarumma made strong saves from Noni Madueke and Eze, but Guardiola continued to throw curveballs as he took off his attacking players for defensive ones. It appeared to have worked before Martinelli threw a spanner in the works.
Eze’s ball over the top caught City cold and Martinelli lobbed Donnarumma with a brilliant finish to earn his side a point. Here are the talking points.
1. Haaland is inevitable
Once the ball came to Reijnders, it felt inevitable. Arsenal committed too many players to try and win the ball and ended up with five within in a tiny pocket of space. City won the ball, fed Reijnders and raced up the pitch to complete a perfect counter-attack. With Gabriel Magalhaes treading water, Haaland streaked clear and expertly finished with his right foot past David Raya.
His efficiency in front of goal is nothing new and, really, we shouldn’t be surprised by Haaland’s current form because he’s had several other purple patches. But the Norwegian really does look unstoppable right now. His seventh goal in a sixth appearance of the season confirmed what we’ve always known: Haaland is by far the best goal scorer in the Premier League.
Erling Haaland shoots to score the opening goal of the English Premier League football match between Arsenal and Manchester City
Erling Haaland only needed one sight of goal to score
2. Functional but lacking flare
Much of the pre-match chat on Sky Sports focused on Arsenal’s squad depth, with Jamie Carragher in particular purring over the home side’s options on the bench. But Arteta’s decision to stick with the functional trio of Martin Zubimendi, Declan Rice and Mikel Merino in midfield gave Arsenal an obvious issue once Haaland had given the away side the lead.
City sat in a low block and challenged the Gunners to break them down, but without the injured Martin Odegaard and with Eze and Ethan Nwaneri on the bench, there was very little in the way of ingenuity. Merino has physicality, but lacks flare on the ball, much to the frustration of the home crowd. Arsenal’s reliance on set pieces has helped hide their difficulties with breaking down deep-set defences. The first half was a classic example.
Arsenal’s Spanish midfielder #23 Mikel Merino (C) vies with Manchester City’s Dutch midfielder #04 Tijjani Reijnders (L) and Manchester City’s Belgian midfielder #11 Jeremy Doku
Mikel Merino was emblematic of Arsenal’s struggles in the first half
3. Arteta makes his move
Arteta has become known as a cautious manager, but he laid his cards on the table at half-time by bringing on Saka and Eze for Madueke and Merino in a double change that suggested he was admitting making a mistake with his line-up. The substitutions immediately made a difference, with Arsenal much more dangerous right from the whistle in the second half.
But what Arteta probably didn’t expect was the response from his former colleague, who ripped up his normal playbook to combat Arsenal’s threat.
Eberechi Eze of Arsenal
Eberechi Eze came off the bench at half-time
4. Pep parks the bus
Pep Guardiola is the most influential manager of the modern era and we saw a different side to the City boss at the Emirates Stadium. Coming up against his former protégé, Guardiola went ultra-pragmatic. Having got an early goal, he took a leaf out of the book of another modern great and parked the bus.
City sat deep, minimised the space, made niggly fouls, took their time over goal kicks and made a real effort not to over-commit numbers to attacks. In the 68th minute came the most obvious sign of Guardiola’s thinking, with Nathan Ake coming on for Phil Foden. City changed to a back five and essentially shut up shop, with Haaland replaced by midfielder Nico Gonzalez in the 76th minute.
Pep Guardiola gestures on the touchline
Pep Guardiola went ultra defensive in the second half
5. Martinelli rescues Arsenal
It was Martinelli, who along with Trossard, won them the game at Athletic Club in the Champions League. And it was the speedy Brazilian who did it once again a few days later.
City’s defensive line went to sleep and Eze’s long ball over the top caught them cold, allowing Martinelli space to run into. He exploited it perfectly, grabbing a huge point for Arsenal, who were minutes away from losing 1-0 once again to a title rival, having lost to Dominik Szoboszlai’s free-kick at Anfield.
Sports
Champions League Results: Arsenal Maintain Perfect Record, Man City Shine Against Real Madrid
Arsenal kept their perfect Champions League run alive on Wednesday night with a confident 3-0 win over Club Brugge, stretching their league-phase record to six victories from six matches.....TAP TO CONTINUE READING
Noni Madueke delivered the standout performance in Belgium with a superb brace, while Gabriel Martinelli added another as the visitors controlled long stretches at the Jan Breydelstadion.
Mikel Arteta opted for heavy rotation in the club’s first competitive meeting with Brugge, reshaping his defence after fresh injury setbacks. Christian Nørgaard partnered Piero Hincapié at centre-back.
Arsenal settled quickly, with Martin Ødegaard forcing an early save. Hincapié struck the base of the post midway through the half, and Viktor Gyökeres flashed a header just wide.
Madueke’s opener arrived in the 24th minute after a smooth solo run from inside the Brugge half, finished with a powerful left-footed strike into the top corner.
Brugge responded before the break, with Carlos Forbs, Aleksandar Stankovic and Christos Tzolis all drawing saves from David Raya, but Arsenal recaptured control straight after the restart.
Two minutes into the second half, Madueke doubled the advantage by heading in at the far post from Martin Zubimendi’s floated cross.
Martinelli added the third soon after, curling in from the left to extend his run to five straight Champions League matches with a goal.
There was further encouragement for Arsenal as Gabriel Jesus returned after 332 days out with an ACL injury. He struck the crossbar from an Ethan Nwaneri pass and later drew another smart save. Sixteen-year-old Marli Salmon also made his senior debut, becoming one of the youngest players to represent the club.
Brugge rallied late on through Kaye Furo, Stankovic and Bjorn Meijer, but Arsenal saw out the win to remain three points clear at the top of their group.
They now turn to Saturday’s Premier League meeting with Wolves before returning to European duties against Inter Milan and Kairat Almaty in January.
Manchester City also enjoyed a strong Champions League night, coming from behind to defeat Real Madrid 2-1 at the Bernabeu and intensifying scrutiny around Xabi Alonso’s position.
Manchester City win champions League Match
Madrid struck first through Rodrygo Goes, but City turned the match on its head before half-time. Nico O’Reilly capitalised on a fumble from Thibaut Courtois, and Erling Haaland converted a penalty to give Pep Guardiola’s side a deserved victory.
Madrid, missing Kylian Mbappe due to knee discomfort, have now won just two of their last eight games.
Full Champions League Results (Matchday 6 of 8)
Tuesday, 9 December
Kairat 0-1 Olympiacos
Bayern 3-1 Sporting
Atalanta 2-1 Chelsea
Monaco 1-0 Galatasaray
Union Saint-Gilloise 2-3 Marseille
PSV 2-3 Atlético Madrid
Barcelona 2-1 Eintracht Frankfurt
Inter 0-1 Liverpool
Tottenham 3-0 Slavia Praha
Wednesday, December 10
Villarreal 2-3 Copenhagen
Qarabag FK 2-4 Ajax
Leverkusen 2-2 Newcastle
Real Madrid 1-2 Manchester City
Benfica 2-0 Napoli
Club Brugge 0-3 Arsenal
Athletic Club 0-0 PSG
Juventus 2-0 Pafos
Dortmund 2-2 Bodø/Glimt
Manchester City came from behind to heap the pressure on Real Madrid boss Xabi Alonso with a stunning 2-1 win at the Bernabeu Stadium on Wednesday.....TAP TO CONTINUE READING
Nico O’Reilly and Erling Haaland – his 51st goal from his 50th Champions League start – were on target as Pep Guardiola’s side got their European campaign back on track following last month’s shock loss to Bayer Leverkusen.
Both goals came in the final 10 minutes of the first half – Haaland’s from the penalty spot – as City replied to Rodrygo’s 28th-minute opener in an exhilarating contest.
Real had a number of chances to level but, with forward talisman Kylian Mbappe looking on from the bench injured, they were unable to take any of them.
Coming after Saturday’s dismal loss to Celta Vigo, it was a second defeat in quick succession for Real and a potentially decisive blow for under-fire manager Alonso’s job.
His side fought to the end but the whistles at full-time made the scale of frustration clear.
It was the 11th meeting between the sides in just under six years but familiarity did not dilute the encounter.
City survived an early scare when the referee awarded Real a penalty for a foul on Vinicius Junior by Matheus Nunes but VAR ruled the offence outside the area.
Federico Valverde’s shot from the resulting free-kick was deflected wide.
Real attacked again moments later in a fast-paced start and City had another let-off as Vinicius failed to control Rodrygo’s dangerous low ball.
The hosts made their next opportunity count as they swept forward from deep after Alvaro Carreras beat Bernardo Silva to the ball. Jude Bellingham fed Rodrygo out wide and the Brazilian advanced before drilling a low shot across Gianluigi Donnarumma into the far corner.
The goal may have been reward for Real’s early sharpness but City had not been bystanders in the game having built some fluid attacks of their own without end product.
Their route back into the game came via a set-piece, however.
O’Reilly pounced to equalise from close range after Thibaut Courtois stopped but failed to gather a Josko Gvardiol header from a corner.
They were then gifted the chance to take the lead when Antonio Rudiger wrestled Haaland to the ground off the ball.
There was a lengthy review before the penalty was confirmed but Haaland made no mistake from the spot once given, calmly sending Courtois the wrong way.
City might have added a third before the break but Courtois made amends for his earlier error when he saved from Haaland and Rayan Cherki in quick succession.
Courtois made a more fortuitous save early in the second half when a Cherki shot was deflected into his midriff.
The contest remained open and Real had a chance from a breakaway but Bellingham lifted over the bar.
Rudiger headed over and Vinicius volleyed off-target as Real mounted greater pressure in the closing stages before substitute Endrick headed against the bar.
At least five clubs have qualified for the Round of 16 of this season’s UEFA Champions League.....TAP TO CONTINUE READING
This was disclosed in a post via UEFA’s official website on Wednesday night.
Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester City and Atalanta are the latest teams to secure their places in the Round of 16 or knockout phase play-offs.
This follows the Champions League results on Wednesday night of Matchday 6.
PSG, Man City and Atalanta will join Arsenal and Bayern Munich in the next stage of the competition.
The top eight overall teams advance directly to the last-16, while the teams that finished from 9th to 24th will compete in the knockout phase play-offs, with the victors going through to the knockout stage.
Only twenty-four teams will secure qualification for the knockout phase of the Champions League.
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