By Lekan Adejuwon
Hitherto hot favorite for the English Premier League title, Arsenal have dashed the hope of millions of their supporters in Ekiti and across the world during the midweek match fixture as they lost woefully to the superior will power of Manchester City by 4 goals to 1.
The goal hungry Manchester City side delivered a masterclass to overwhelm Premier League leaders Arsenal thereby ending Arsenal’s outstanding performance and impressive outing since the beginning of the English Premier League giving the visitors psychological blow in the title race at Etihad Stadium on Wednesday.
Incidentally, the confrontation earlier touted as a potential title decider turned into an embarrassingly one-sided affair with Man City leading by 4 goals to 1 at the end of the 90 minutes regular time.
Arsenal’s tales of woes began when they drew three matches in a row crowning it with the scandalous loss on Wednesday.
With three matches ahead for Arsenal’s to five matches for Man City, it remains a miracle for Arsenal to return to its past winning ways and reclaim the title which the club had guided jealousy until recently.
Guardiola’s side, now two points behind Arsenal with two games in hand, were inspired by the devastating partnership of Erling Haaland and Kevin de Bruyne.
Haaland set De Bruyne away for a silky finish for City’s opener after seven minutes, and Arsenal then survived a constant bombardment of attacks before John Stones headed home from a corner in first-half stoppage time, the goal given by VAR after originally being ruled offside.
For many of Arsenal’s fans in Ekiti the obvious feeling of disappointment and anger was palpable while some had written the club off, others felt it’s not yet over until it’s over
A review of the Wednesday match shows that City goal machine Haaland was outstanding, once again setting up De Bruyne for the third in the 54th minute, the Belgian passing a classy finish between the legs of Gunners defender Rob Holding.
Holding did pull one back for Arsenal late in the game before Haaland, denied four times by Arsenal goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale earlier in the match, sealed a memorable night with his 49th City goal.
City can go top with victory at Fulham on Sunday while Arsenal must somehow pull out of a slump that has seen them go four league games without a win at a crucial stage of the season.
