In Wednesday’s top-of-the-table match at the Etihad Stadium, Kevin De Bruyne scored twice as Manchester City dominated leaders Arsenal 4-1 to go a step closer to defending their Premier League crown. For the best sports betting casinos of May 2023, make sure you visit CasinoDaddy!
De Bruyne and Erling Haaland terrorized Arsenal’s defense from the outset of the game, which had been dubbed as the potential title-decider for weeks.
Within the first seven minutes, De Bruyne gave Pep Guardiola’s team the lead with a side-foot effort from 20 yards that beat goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale at his near post. Before John Stones headed in De Bruyne’s free kick in first-half stoppage time to give the game a score that more accurately represented City’s strength, Haaland had many opportunities to increase City’s lead.
In the ninth minute of the second half, De Bruyne added his second and City’s third goals to put the game beyond Arsenal’s reach. After Rob Holding had given Arsenal the paltryest of consolation goals, Haaland at long last scored the goal his performance merited in the dying seconds of extra time.
With the goal, Haaland broke the tie with Mohamed Salah for the most in a 38-game season and moved one goal behind the record set by Alan Shearer and Andrew Cole over 42 games. This was his 33rd goal in his first Premier League season.
Arsenal still leads, but their advantage over City, which has two games remaining, has shrunk to to two points. In order to win the Premier League for the fifth time in six years, City can now afford to lose one of their next seven games and still claim the championship, even if Arsenal prevails.
The likelihood of a historic treble-winning season for the blue half of Manchester is growing, and with games against Real Madrid in the Champions League semifinal and the FA Cup final yet to come, both matches will be against Manchester United.
The mood is considerably different for Mikel Arteta’s team, who have only picked up three points in their last four games while the defending champions have stumbled at a key moment in the season. In addition, Arteta has now dropped each of his seven matches versus City since taking over as Arsenal manager and leaving his position as Guardiola’s assistant.
One of the major concerns heading into the game was how backup Holding would handle the record-breaking Haaland as William Saliba was once again absent from the center of Arsenal’s defense.
Within the first ten minutes, that query received a resounding response. To handle a long ball forward and send it off into De Bruyne’s path, Haaland comfortably outlasted Holding. The Belgian kept pushing forward and finished with a low shot that Ramsdale might have been able to save.
Arsenal was just about to believe they would just trail 1-0 at the interval when City eventually extended their lead.
Stones was first given an offside warning when he headed in De Bruyne’s precise pass to the far post while Stones was back in the center of a more conventional four-man defense with Kyle Walker filling in for the injured Nathan Ake. However, a VAR review revealed the England international was unmistakably played onside, upholding the goal.
The hosts continued to exert pressure at the beginning of the second half.
Ramsdale once more blocked an attempt from Haaland, but De Bruyne was in better overall shape while the Norwegian striker was playing an exceptionally wasteful game in front of goal. After an Arsenal turnover, Haaland again set up City’s top scorer, who then guided a low shot through Holding’s legs to fool Ramsdale and put an end to the game, if there ever was one.
Guardiola felt secure enough to rest De Bruyne with 10 minutes remaining. With four minutes left, Holding’s well-placed shot past Ederson was the last hiccup before Haaland put the finishing touches on City’s victory.
