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Goals from Raheem Sterling and Bernardo Silva give Manchester City a 2-0 win over Arsenal and a perfect start to their title defence

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Sun 12 Aug 2018 13.14 EDTFirst published on Sun 12 Aug 2018 09.38 EDT
Bernardo Silva wheels away after doubling Manchester City’s lead.
Bernardo Silva wheels away after doubling Manchester City’s lead. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian
Bernardo Silva wheels away after doubling Manchester City’s lead. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian

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Arsenal outran City today, the stats show, which suggests they are taking some of Emery’s approach onboard. Now to refine it and make sure they’re more efficient on the ball. Chelsea, similarly in flux, might be a better test of their current standing next week.

Words from Sterling:

“First game of the season you want to start well and I’m happy to contribute today, I’m just glad we got the win. There’s been a lot of talking so ... [referring to a cupped-ears goal celebration].”

Words from Silva:

“To start well it’s always important so we’re very happy, a fantastic game for us. Now we have to keep going. We wanted to be professional and be serious like last season.

“In the beginning of the second half we knew we had to keep going try and score the second one, they started the second half very strong but in the end we were better than them.”

A lot of Arsenal’s problems today came from trying to play out from Cech, a little bit slavishly given that it was clearly not working from quite an early stage. Practice makes perfect but I wonder if that role might be better cut out for Leno, who was on the bench today.

Full-time: Arsenal 0-2 Manchester City

De Bruyne comes close at the death but then the whistle blows. That was very comfortable for City, who weren’t really close to their best but were up against an Arsenal team that is currently neither one thing nor the other. Sterling and Bernardo Silva scored fine goals; Arsenal never really looked like posing a consistent threat but they’ll need judging later, and against weaker sides than City. For now, the champions – without a number of key players from the start here – are up and running!

Ozil, dejected after the final whistle. Photograph: John Sibley/Action Images via Reuters
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92 min: Ederson gets away with another sloppy kick, which Mkhitaryan seizes upon by the right touchline. Lacazette might do a tad better than hammer his cutback over the bar.

88 min: Immediately, Sane has a go but it rolls wide of the near post. What a squad City have. Who can touch this, really?

85 min: Ohhh ... Ederson makes a ricket but Ozil, perhaps caught between taking the ball on and passing it to an offside Lacazette, doesn’t take his chance. And with that surely goes Arsenal’s last hope. At the other end a City flurry brings a couple of panicked tackles and a shot from Mendy deflected to Cech. Aubameyang then gets sent away but, for the second time in a few minutes, he’s offside and it doesn’t matter one bit that he goes on to finish.

83 min: There is no real belief, from either team and certainly not from any of the supporters, that this will finish anything other than Arsenal 0-2 City.

81 min: “I’ve heard it said that when you think Ozil is doing nothing, it’s actually just he’s working at such a high level that us mere mortals cannot comprehend it,” writes David Flynn. “By that same rationale, Mkhitaryan is possibly the best footballer in the world right now.”

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78 min: Torreira, impressive in his short time, reads a pass from De Bruyne to Mendy astutely, cuts it out and starts an attack. That is exactly what Arsenal need their midfielders to be doing.

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77 min: A short corner move finds Lichtsteiner at the back post, but he can’t control first time and, while he salvages the ball, can’t do a lot in driving it back across goal.

76 min: “Arsène Wenger, he’s won more than you,” is the chant I think I just heard from the North Bank. He’ll never leave!

@NickAmes82 Good evening. Does this match raise the question of how long it will take Arsenal to dewengerise the place? This has been a game that reeks of late period Arsene, from the wasted possession to the big-haired midfielder being repeatedly bypassed.

— abayo (@kawatabake) August 12, 2018

There is a sound argument for that and this is why people should hold fire on Emery for precisely one year, however things go.

71 min: Guendouzi tries a first-time effort from 25 yards and ... well ... that may genuinely have ended up somewhere near Finsbury Park. His debut has had plenty to commend it, but also some real raw spots. That’s to be expected.

69 min: Ozil, his radar properly off, plays a pass exactly where Lacazette does not want it. City look happy to contain and break now.

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67 min: Arsenal win a corner and that’s their first of the game. They need something very soon to keep this game alive, but it won’t come now.

Goal! Arsenal 0-2 Man City (Bernardo Silva 64)

Erm, no it won’t. City are undeterred by Aguero’s mistake and come again. Mendy cuts one back from the byline and Bernardo Silva, swivelling onto a ball played a touch behind him, belts it brilliantly past Cech. That’s some finish and, with City not at their best in this half, surely puts the game to bed.

Silva scores City’s second. Photograph: James Baylis - AMA/Getty Images
Silva celebrates. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian
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63 min: Cech saves Arsenal ... but that’s a big miss from Aguero! Guendouzi completely misses a high ball on halfway and now Aguero has half the pitch to himself. He brings the ball forward towards Cech and, really, should square the ball to De Bruyne for a tap-in. But he goes it alone, takes aim, should still score, and Cech parries. Will that boost Arsenal?

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62 min: Not one of Ozil’s more influential days so far. He takes a flighted ball away from Lichtsteiner and a reasonable Arsenal move breaks down. City are getting a bit of stick for timewasting at the moment and I’m not really sure why they want to play so slowly.

59 min: Another corner for City, who aren’t looking their most convincing just now. Lichtsteiner is getting animated about some handbags with Laporte. Oliver has a chinwag with both and, just as he’s about to take the corner, Mahrez is hooked for De Bruyne. He walks off, to a crescendo of boos. This set-piece has taken a very long time indeed to arrange ...

56 min: And Lacazette has an early opportunity – it sits up well on the edge of the ‘D’ but he loops it wide, with Ederson left standing. That’s more like it for Arsenal!

55 min: And that’s the end of Ramsey, who is replaced by Lacazette. Arsenal need some extra punch. I think I missed a Xhaka booking in there, you’ll be shocked to hear.

52 min: Ramsey plays a pass into touch that reminds me instantly of that famous Ricky van Wolfswinkel “effort” for Norwich at Fulham, albeit in a far less dangerous position. The fans audible to the mic snarl and grumble.

50 min: It’s been a slow start to the half, in truth, though City are seeing far more of the ball. Aguero flashes a deflected effort wide for a corner now, though, after an initial Mendy strike is blocked.

48 min: Sterling wins an early corner but City can’t create anything with it; Arsenal have a break on for a moment but Mkhitaryan, generally quiet so far, can’t find the pass.

From Kari Tulinius:

“I agree with you. I’ve seen a lot of Unai Emery’s teams through the years, and this Arsenal performance isn’t reminiscent of any of them. Emery teams at their best are like clockwork football, with players moving in perfect sync. At their worst it’s like watching a clock whose cogs and springs are jammed and breaking apart. Arsenal today are a lot like, well, the Arsenal of the last couple of years, with flashes of individual quality, but little cohesion. Emery has a lot to do before this is recognisably his team.”

Am I alone in thinking that the CL weeks will decide the PL @NickAmes82? Liverpool's challenge is to raise their game at weekends; City's is to raise their game on weekdays. City's hierarchy surely want a CL above everything and I feel PL form will subconsciously dip as a result

— Gary Naylor (@garynaylor999) August 12, 2018

Could be – but I just can’t see Guardiola letting them ease off and they more or less have the squad to keep on keeping on ...

So does Alex Whitney:

“As an Arsenal sympathiser, even against the world’s first or second most expensive team, had higher hopes for an Emery team than endless blootering the ball up to escape pressure in their own half. Good luck with that, boys. Guendouzi may have lots of talent, but starting him against such opposition in the opening match isn’t working out so well – ‘arry’s gran could have provided more competition for Sterling on the goal.”

Maybe, but what Emery really needs – and what he won’t get in today’s insufferably impatient society – is a year to get things as he wants them.

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Matt Loten writes in:

“Though I was certainly one of the many who felt that Sterling did a fine, if thankless, job at the World Cup, it’s striking how much more positive he has been for City today. Always looking to take his man on; no putting his foot on the ball and looking back to the deeper midfielders. I can understand why Southgate asked him to perform a different role for England, but I hope Gareth can find a way to fit this Sterling into the national team moving forward.”

Half-time: Arsenal 0-1 Man City

Arsenal will probably take that. They started quite well but City began to turn the screw and, after Sterling scored, threatened to run amok for a while. But the ship has been broadly steadied and there have been a couple of promising moments at the other end. The next goal will be crucial. Join me in 15 minutes to see who gets it!

Emery has a few things to sort out at half time. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian
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45+2 min: City get themselves into a bit of a mess playing out and it results in an opening for Mkhitaryan after sloppy play from Mendy. The defender recovers though, and the ball pings behind off the Arsenal man.

45 min: Now we do see Aubameyang. He finds a good area 25 yards out in the inside-left position, and cracks a shot that was a bit wider than Ederson’s dive made it look. Still, a positive to (almost) end the half on. We still have four minutes of added time.

44 min: Corner to City after a quite *sensational* 70-yard switch from Laporte to Mahrez. They’ve had six now to Arsenal’s zero, can they make one count? Short answer: no.

42 min: Another go at goal from Mahrez, who works the ball onto his left and looks to fade one into the far corner. It beats Cech but curls a yard wide.

41 min: Some of Arsenal’s attempts to build from the back have been borderline disastrous but their latest concession sees Gundogan, perhaps stubbing his toe, completely waste a good chance to play someone in.

37 min: Mahrez finds space to cross, but can’t find anyone. Lichtsteiner did well to track the overlap of Walker there, notably – the sign of a specialist full-back.

35 min: Maitland-Niles can barely run and, as City attack again, play is sportingly stopped to let him go off. He’d had a tough time out there, let’s be honest, but nobody wants to see this and it means a rejig for Arsenal. On comes the experience of Stephan Lichtsteiner, for his debut. He’s a right-back really but might have a bit of savvy against the might of Walker and Mahrez.

33 min: A sweet, Ramsey-led move from Arsenal almost brings a shooting chance for Mkhitaryan, but he is crowded out. That was their best piece of football this half, though, and the crowd respond suitably.

32 min: A bit of a pause here, for treatment to Maitland-Niles after a foul by Walker. It’s actually a good thing, this break, for Arsenal I think. They’ve been run ragged since the goal, apart from that flicker from Bellerin.

30 min: We’ve seen nothing of Aubameyang yet, nothing at all. He’s had nothing to play with. But all he tends to need is one chance.

29 min: Double save from Cech! He gets his paws on Mahrez’s whipped, low free-kick around the wall and then, with Laporte sniffing, recovers to block the rebound at point-blank range. From Mahrez’s corner, Laporte glances a header well wide despite having nobody near him.

27 min: City are cutting Arsenal’s midfield open at will and, after Xhaka cedes possession, Sokratis has to crudely scythe Aguero down right on the edge of the box. He’s booked. It was a good idea to make the foul, but this is a chance ...

25 min: Sterling is thwarted on the right of the box by a fine Maitland-Niles recovery tackle, and gets up before firing a cross-shot into the arms of a grateful Cech.

Cech saves from Sterling. Photograph: Javier Garcia/BPI/REX/Shutterstock
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24 min: Arsenal try a brief spell of feisty pressing, which I think City will see a bit more of this season, but it’s bypassed easily. Guardiola will probably have known what was coming.

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