For Arsene Wenger it has come to this. Frozen to his seat, in the bitter cold, inside a half-empty stadium that he helped build, watching his Arsenal team being taken apart by a Manchester City side playing the kind of football he used to oversee and now appears nothing but a cruelly distant dream.
Throughout this nightmare Wenger did not move from the bench, maybe he feared if he did the abuse would focus even more angrily on him. In the desperately icy conditions it felt like the end. Wenger was beaten. He looked devastated. He did not even make a substitution. It was resigned. He needs to go. It was a perfect storm on a treacherous night.
Arsenal do not even feel like a top six team anymore. There is the top five and then there is Arsenal who are marooned 30 points behind the Premier League leaders Manchester City and, more relevantly, 10 points adrift of fourth-placed Tottenham Hotspur with just 10 matches to go. Finishing in the top four appears almost impossible meaning that their only chance of Champions League qualification is by winning the Europa League, with AC Milan their next opponents.
Focussing on Wenger should not detract from the poverty of performance put in by his team or the brilliance of City’s attacking play as they carved their opponents apart with the skill of a master sculptor. Each goal was a gem; a master-piece in its own right with City just too quick, too skilful, too incisive and summed up by the graceful trickery of Leroy Sane. Even then, in defence, they put their bodies on the line in the way that Arsenal players did not appear prepared to do while City did not even have to play that well – as with last Sunday’s Carabao Cup Final – to beat Arsenal. They repeated the scoreline but it felt even more emphatic.
Arsenal had the lifeline of a penalty, early in the second-half, when Nicolas Otamendi fouled Henrikh Mkhitaryan but that was taken so carelessly by Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang that City goalkeeper Ederson made a comfortable save diving to his left. At the end Mesut Ozil slumped to his haunches, despondently, but neither he nor Mkhitaryan nor Aubameyang did enough. Not nearly enough.
To put this into perspective, Arsenal are now five points nearer to West Bromwich Albion than they are to Manchester City: and on Thursday night, at times, it looked like it.
City took them apart in the space of 18 minutes. Scored three goals and then toyed with them for the remainder, conserving energy for the fixture with Chelsea on Sunday. They were so clinical, so stylish in the way they finished Arsenal off, it is hard to believe it was not part of a wider plan.
READ: Martin Samuel's full match report from the Emirates Stadium
After freezing in the defeat by Manchester City at Wembley, Arsenal will be looking for revenge in sub-zero temperatures as they host Pep Guardiola's outfit in the Premier League.
The Gunners were easily brushed aside 3-0 in the Carabao Cup final on Sunday but have an instant chance of gaining some redemption when they face the Premier League leaders at the Emirates Stadium.
Despite fears the match would be called off due to the snowy conditions around north London the fixture will go ahead and you can follow all the action with Sportsmail as it happens.
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KOMPAS.com - Laga Arsenal versus Manchester City terancam tertunda. Hujan salju masih menyelimuti kota London sehingga ada kemungkinan duel tersebut tidak terlaksana sesuai jadwal. Arsenal akan menjamu Man City pada lanjutan Liga Inggris di Stadion Emirates, Kamis (1/3/2018) atau Jumat dini hari pukul 02.45 WIB. Dilansir BolaSport.com dari ESPN, London telah diselimuti salju sejak Rabu (28/2/2018) yang menyebabkan gangguan pada jalan dan transportasi umum. Kondisi ini meningkatkan kekhawatiran keselamatan bagi orang-orang yang akan menuju Stadion Emirates. Arsenal mengatakan, keputusan akhir akan dibuat oleh perangkat pertandingan dan pihak Liga Inggris. Semua itu tergantung pada perubahan cuaca menjelang pertandingan. Ramalan cuaca memperkirakan suhu akan berada di bawah 0 derajat Celsius saat pertandingan berlangsung.
(Baca Juga: Misi Baru Persija setelah Membungkam Tampines Rovers Diungkap Gelandangnya ) Arsenal mengeluarkan sebuah pernyataan kepada para pendukungnya bahwa cuaca buruk dapat mempengaruhi perjalanan mereka ke pertandingan dan merekomendasikan agar mereka untuk datang lebih awal ke stadion. Badan transportasi London melaporkan adanya penundaan yang parah pada beberapa jalur kereta bawah tanah, namun jalur Piccadilly dan Victoria yang paling banyak digunakan penggemar untuk sampai ke Emirates berjalan cukup lancar. Man City juga bisa menghadapi kesulitan sampai ke Stadion Emirates saat mereka melakukan perjalanan ke London meskipun kereta api antarkota di Inggris masih bisa berjalan dengan lancar. (Putra Rusdi Kurniawan)
Gilabola.com – Hasil pertandingan antara Arsenal vs Manchester City dalam laga Liga Inggris pekan ke-28 ditutup dengan skor akhir 0-3 yang digelar di Stadion Emirates hari Jumat (2/3) dinihari.
Arsenal dilumat oleh Manchester City di kandang sendiri, tiga gol tercipta di babak pertama melalui gol duo Silva, Bernardo Silva di menit 15, David Silva di menit 28 dan gol Leroy Sane di menit 33. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang gagal mengeksekusi tendangan penalti di babak kedua.
Babak pertama dimulai dan Manchester City langsung memberikan tekanan ke tuan rumah Arsenal. Beberapa peluang pun tercipta bagi kedua kubu, namun di akhirnya di menit 15 Manchester City lah yang berhasil mencetak gol pertama di laga ini.
Di menit 15, GOOOLL Bernardo Silva!! Leroy Sane menyambut bola di sayap kiri, ia menggiring bola melewati tiga pemain Arsenal dan mengirimkan bola crossing ke dalam kotak penalti yang disambut oleh Bernardo Silva. Tembakan kaki kiri Bernardo Silva dan bola melesat ke arah tiang jauh menjebol gawang Arsenal! Skor 0-1 Manchester City memimpin.
Tertinggal sebiji gol membuat Stadion Emirates sunyi, Aaron Ramsey mendapatkan peluang menyamakan kedudukan di menit 23 namun sayang masih gagal! Arsenal bukannya mencetak gol penyama kedudukan mereka malah kembali kebobolan!
Di menit 28 GOLL DAVID SILVA! Kembali Leroy Sane ikut berperan di gol kedua Man City, ia menerima bola dari David Silva di sisi kiri, mengirimkan bola kembali ke depan kepada Aguero yang langsung meneruskannya kepada David Silva dan dituntaskan dengan baik. Melepaskan tembakan dan dari jrak dekat dan kiper Cech gagal menghalau bola, jebol gawang Arsenal! Skor 0-2 Manchester City menjauh dan fans Arsenal mulai tak senang!
Tak lama kemudian di menit 33 GOOOLLL LEROY SANE!!! Umpan first touch dari Bernardo Silva di sayap kanan, melintas gawang Arsenal dan dituntaskan dengan baik oleh Leroy Sane dengan sontekan ringan mendatarnya mengoyak gawang Arsenal secara perlahan! Skor 0-3 Manchester City mendominasi! Skor ini bertahan hingga babak pertama berakhir.
6 – Manchester City have now scored with each of their last six shots on target against Arsenal in all competitions. Clinical. pic.twitter.com/iax4ZdQDRU
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) March 1, 2018
