Arsenal’s hopes of a record-extending FA Cup win was ended after they were edged 1-0 by Manchester City in the round of 32 at the Etihad on Friday night.
After a spirited display the Gunners eventually succumbed to a Nathan Ake second half strike to proved to be the winner.
The game saw both sides make some changes to their first eleven with City starting the likes of Ederson, Bernardo Silva, Kyle Walker on the bench while Stefan Ortega was in goal and 18-year-old Rico Lewis was at right-back.
For Arsenal Matt Turner kept goal and Takehiro Tomiyasu, Rob Holding, Kieran Tierney, Fabio Vieira and new signing Leandro Trossard made the starting line-up.
City were hit by injury after John Stones pulled his hamstring in first half stoppage time and was replaced by Aymeric Laporte.
The Gunners started brightly and went close on two occasions in the first half but Ortega denied both Tomiyasu and Trossard with brilliant saves.
The deadlock was eventually broken on 64 minutes as Ake slotted home Jack Grealish’s cutback pass.
Mikel Arteta’s side almost response a few minutes later but Eddie Nketiah failed to connect with Granit Xhaka’s dangerous cross which was nicked away by a City player for a corner.
Arsenal are now out in both the FA Cup and the Carabao Cup but are still in the Premier League title race and the Europa League.
For Pep Guardiola’s men, the have the Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup to fight for.
1 Comment
Tight game. Could have gone either way.