Arsenal beat Manchester City 1-0 in a tense Premier League encounter at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday, getting the better of their nemesis for the first time in 13 league meetings.
In a clash between last season’s top two in the league, the three points were crucial as the treble winners and their hosts battled hard in a tight game.
City, though, had the best chances of the first half.
WHAT A WIN ❤️ pic.twitter.com/iVpbwSV4kW
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) October 8, 2023
The first and best of those came in the fourth minute, when Declan Rice had to clear a Josko Gvardiol effort off the goalline and Nathan Ake fired over from close range as the champions looked to take advantage of the nervy Gunners.
With the game getting tighter, City midfielder Mateo Kovacic was lucky to escape a second yellow after diving in on Rice six minutes after catching Martin Odegaard before the break.
🎶 One-nil to The Arsenal 🎶
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) October 8, 2023
Relive a BIG win over Manchester City all over again 👇 pic.twitter.com/sSeabbZUBw
After the interval, Gabriel Martinelli came on to give Arsenal some threat and the match opened up a bit, with Odegaard and Oleksandr Zinchenko shooting wide from range.
But the Gunners kept drukking to end an eight-year wait for a first win over City and Martinelli got a goal in the 86th minute.
From a long ball from Thomas Partey, Takehiro Tomiyasu knocked the ball down to Kai Havertz and he rolled the ball out to Martinelli, whose goalbound shot took a telling deflection off Nathan Ake.
Matchweek 8 complete ✅ pic.twitter.com/QQ3oTwYHY0
— Premier League (@premierleague) October 8, 2023
The Gunners held on for a massive win over coach Pep Guardiola’s defending champions and moved level on 20 points with Tottenham Hotspur at the top of the table at the international break.