Arsenal humble former champions Man City.

Written by on February 2, 2025

Arsenal delivered a stunning second-half performance at the Emirates Stadium, defeating Manchester City 5-1 and sending a clear message to Liverpool that the Premier League title race is far from over. 

This victory provided Arsenal with revenge after their earlier 2-2 draw at the Etihad Stadium, which left a bitter taste.

 Arsenal took the lead just 103 seconds into the match, with Martin Ødegaard scoring the opener. 

City defender Manuel Akanji lost possession on the edge of his own box to Leandro Trossard. 

After Trossard intercepted the ball, Declan Rice received it and played a pass to Kai Havertz, who squared it for Ødegaard to slot home. 

Remarkably, Arsenal had only completed two passes before Rice received the ball, with Havertz’s assist being just their fourth successful pass of the game.

Midway through the first half, Havertz had a golden opportunity to score following another defensive blunder by City. 

He had time to select his spot, but his 26th-minute shot veered just inches wide of the post after Rice intervened once again.

Arsenal maintained their lead until the 55th minute when Erling Haaland equalized with a header. 

Savinho provided an excellent floated cross after a well-executed passing move by City, allowing Haaland to guide the ball over David Raya and into the net. 

This marked Haaland’s 250th senior club goal, and he had only touched the ball nine times up to that point. Remarkably, this would be City’s last shot of the game.

The scores remained level for less than two minutes. Just 105 seconds after Haaland’s goal,Thomas Partey scored with a long-range strike that took a significant deflection off John Stones’ back, leaving goalkeeper Stefan Ortega with no chance. 

This was Partey’s third Premier League goal of the 2024-25 season, coming after he intercepted a careless pass from Phil Foden.

Arsenal then made it 3-1, with exciting young player Myles Lewis-Skelly netting his first goal for the club. 

The 18-year-old entered the box, cut inside onto his right foot, and unleashed a strike too powerful for Ortega to save. 

Lewis-Skelly now stands as the fourth youngest player to score for Arsenal in the Premier League, following Ethan Nwaneri, Cesc Fàbregas, and Serge Gnabry.

In the 76th minute, Havertz extended Arsenal’s lead to 4-1 after the team quickly regained possession in their own half and counter-attacked.

Gabriel Martinelli found Havertz on an overlapping run, and the German scored his 15th competitive goal of the season—his best tally at a Premier League club and the highest since his 18 goals for Bayer Leverkusen in the 2019-20 season.

Nwaneri capped off an incredible victory with a stunning strike in added time, bringing the final score to 5-1 just moments before the end of the game.

With this win, Arsenal are now unbeaten in 14 Premier League matches (9 wins and 5 draws) and have earned the most points of any team since Matchday 11 (32 points). 

This unbeaten run is the longest under Mikel Arteta; the previous longest was 14 matches without defeat between August and December 2018 under Unai Emery.

Manchester City now finds themselves nine points behind Arsenal and, more critically, 15 points adrift of league leaders Liverpool while having played one game more. 

It’s clear that City is unlikely to secure a fifth successive Premier League title, raising the question of whether Arsenal can bridge the gap to Arne Slot’s side and claim their first league title since 2004.

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