De Bruyne, Grealnish And Haaland Score To Advance Man City To The Top

Erling Haaland’s 26th Premier League goal of the season helped Manchester City to leapfrog Arsenal and go top of the table.

Kevin De Bruyne, Jack Grealish and Erling Haaland all scored to put Manchester City top of the Premier League with a vital 3-1 victory against title rivals Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium.

Arsenal headed into Wednesday’s top-two clash with a three-point lead, but De Bruyne ruthlessly punished Takehiro Tomiyasu’s error for the opener after 24 minutes.

Bukayo Saka’s penalty looked to have maintained Arsenal’s advantage at the summit, only for Grealish to strike in the 72nd minute before Haaland added a third to make it seven straight away victories for City against the Gunners.

Arsenal drop points for a third game in a row, though they still hold a game in hand over City as they look to win their first title since the 2003-04 ‘Invincibles’ campaign.

Eddie Nketiah missed a golden early opportunity when he headed Oleksandr Zinchenko’s pinpoint cross wide, and Arsenal were made to pay moments later, De Bruyne latching onto Tomiyasu’s shocking backpass before lofting first-time into the net.

After Tomiyasu skied a decent chance to atone for his mistake by volleying over, the Gunners were awarded a penalty when Nketiah was wiped out by Ederson, who avoided a second yellow having been previously booked for time-wasting.

Saka stepped up, and coolly stroked into the bottom-left corner to restore parity heading into the break, though City did hit the bar in added-time when Rodri’s header deflected off Nathan Ake and onto the woodwork.

The hosts received a huge let-off after the interval when a penalty was awarded for Gabriel hauling down Haaland, with a VAR review adjudging the City striker to have been offside before the foul had taken place.

But Grealish, having been fed by Ilkay Gundogan, excellently buried a low effort into the bottom corner to restore City’s advantage, before Haaland expertly drilled past Aaron Ramsdale having been teed up by De Bruyne eight minutes from time to claim his 26th Premier League goal of the season and secure what could prove to be a vital triumph.

What does it mean? City show champion spirit

City looked like the team that had won four titles in five years as they overcame a raucous Emirates Stadium atmosphere to put themselves top of the Premier League and inflict a first Arsenal home defeat of the season.

The Gunners were the better team in the first half, but a much-improved City display after the break restricted the hosts to no shots on target in the second 45 minutes, while Grealish and Haaland both showed great killer instinct to take their chances and clinch the victory.

De Bruyne the key man

Guardiola’s choice to bench De Bruyne for the defeat at Tottenham was a controversial one, but his decision to start him here was vindicated with a sublime creative display from the Belgium international.

De Bruyne opened the scoring with his deft finish to capitalise on Tomiyasu’s woefully underhit backpass, and he was replaced in the 87th minute by Kalvin Phillips having led the match in key passes (two) and goal involvements (two).

He has scored six league goals against Arsenal, his most against any opponent in his career.

Wasteful Nketiah

Nketiah has done well while filling in for the injured Gabriel Jesus, but he missed a great opportunity to give the Gunners the lead before De Bruyne put City ahead moments later.

It may have been a different result had he been able to nod the hosts in front, and the striker will have to perform better than he did here if Arsenal are to get back on track.

He did win the penalty, but otherwise failed to hit the target with any of his four shots, while also not managing any key passes.

Key Opta Stats: Eleven in a row for City

• Arsenal have lost their last 11 Premier League games against Manchester City, their longest losing run against an opponent in their league history. – Pep Guardiola has won eight of his nine matches against Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal in all competitions (L1), including all four meetings at the Emirates. – Haaland has scored 26 goals in the Premier League this season, the joint-most by a City player in a single campaign in the competition, alongside Sergio Aguero in 2014-15. – De Bruyne has assisted Haaland six times in the Premier League this season, more than any player has assisted another among all sides in the division. – Grealish had one goal and no assists in eight appearances in the Premier League this season heading into the World Cup, while he has two goals and three assists from nine matches since the competition returned.

What’s next?

Both teams are in Premier League action again on Saturday, when Arsenal travel to face Aston Villa while new leaders City make the trip to Nottingham Forest.