English Premier League leaders Arsenal dropped a total of 4 points in the last 2 weeks in what could be a sign of loosing the grip in the last moments. They will have to be wary of the threat Manchester City can produce especially in the business end of the season.
For Guadiola and his side it is nothing new. Last season they clinched their 4th PL title in 5 years and 2nd in a row on the very last day against Aston Villa. City after trailing by 2-0, saw Rodrigo and Ilkay Gundogan score winning goals at the Etihad Stadium.
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It denied Liverpool a title win for perhaps the 3rd or 4th time in PL history and Arsenal who are looking to bring the Premier League trophy back to the Emirates Stadium after 20 years. Mikel Arteta’s side began their season deinfing week in the PL with 2 back-to-back 2-2 draws against Liverpool and West Ham United.
On both occasions, the Gunners bottled a 2-0 lead in the initial stages. Yesterday at the London Stadium, Arsenal opened the scoring with Gabriel Jesus in the 7th minute and Martin Odegaard doubled the Gunners’ lead 3 minutes later.
In the 33rd minute, Said Benrahma pulled one goal back through a penalty and in the 50th minute, Arsenal were also awarded with a penalty but Bukayo Saka struck it wide of left post. 4 minutes later, Jared Bowen found the back of the net to deny Arsenal winning 3 points at the London Derby.
In 2 weeks time, they will meet Manchester City away at the Etihad where the reigning champions are on a run of 13 matches without a loss since November 2022. Before they travel to Manchester, Arsenal will welcome Southampton to make up for the dropped points.
Mikel Arteta mentioned the fact that his team lacked intensity and said that the players tried to fickle with the result and West Ham became way too more direct.
“We started extremely well again – dominated the game, dominated the pitch and scored two beautiful goals. They did what they did really well – they started to play extremely direct, with long throws and winning corners. We really struggled to get out of that game. If you don’t defend your box the way you should, with the two goals we conceded, you have to do many things much better for longer periods in the match.” – said Arteta.
