The defeat that had been coming finally arrived for Manchester City | OneFootball

Manchester City went down to an embarrassing 5-1 defeat to Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium this evening. Mikel Arteta’s side ruthlessly dismantled Pep Guardiola’s side after Erling Haaland equalised for City in the 55th minute. From that point on every concern there is with the world champions was on full display. In truth, this defeat has been coming for some time, and today, it finally arrived.

Manchester City’s season can be defined by costly errors. There are too many to list that have cost Pep Guardiola’s side this season. But from the second minute onwards that was on full display today. Manuel Akanji’s mistake, which gifted Arsenal the lead, set the tone. Phil Foden’s misplaced pass that killed all of City’s momentum to restore Arsenal’s lead in the 56th minute was another. Even Stefan Ortega made one which should have seen Kai Havertz double Arsenal’s lead in the first half. All season long we have seen these errors cost City and today it happened again.

But from the moment Thomas Partey gave Arsenal a 2-1 lead Manchester City capitulated. All confidence was sapped from Pep Guardiola’s side. From that moment on the fight was gone from Manchester City. That is not acceptable from a team that has set such high standards for so long. Pep Guardiola’s side gave up and Arsenal took full advantage of this. That tells you everything that is currently wrong with this City side.

But in truth a defeat like this has been coming for Manchester City. We have seen defeats like this across the season. But today the bottom fell out of Pep Guardiola’s team. You had the sense it could have been coming but now the size of the task to rebuild the City machine was laid bare. That stood out as Arsenal ran riot at the Emirates.