Manchester City kept up their winning form with a 3-1 victory over Arsenal at the Etihad Stadium in the Premier League.
Devin de Bruyne opened the scoring while Sergio Aguero converted from the spot in the second half after Raheem Sterling was felled by Nacho Monreal.
The visitors did pull a goal back through Alexandre Lacazette but Gabriel Jesus came off the bench to make it 3-1 and seal all three points in the process.
Here are three things we learned from the encounter.
City chased Alexis Sanchez for most of the summer and it was reported that Arsenal finally offered to cut a deal if it would see Raheem Sterling go the other way. Pep Guardiola is said to have immediately turned it down.
As much as he wanted the Chilean to add more firepower to his attack, he was well aware of Sterling’s qualities and saw him in his plans for the season. His faith in the Englishman has paid off as well with the winger registering 10 goals and two assists so far this season.
However, the Spaniard must find him infuriating as well. Despite his improvement, the Sterling of old whose end product was so poor, pops up every now and again. He showed that side of him again at home to Arsenal as he had a rather simple ball across to Leroy Sane on but managed to over hit it and the chance went begging.
It was at a crucial juncture in the game and City could’ve gone 2-0 up. Guardiola didn’t hide his frustration in the dugout either. However, Sterling did win the penalty in the second half for Sergio Aguero to convert and send his side two goals clear.
The Raheem Sterling effect.pic.twitter.com/nz3RYRw3p7
— Freddie (@Beardamendi) November 5, 2017
When a club spends £52 million on a striker, you’d expect him to start the biggest games but like in Arsenal’s away defeat to Liverpool, Alexandre Lacazette was left on the bench by Arsene Wenger.
Alexis Sanchez was the one who started up front instead while Alex Iwobi featured on the left flank. In a game of such magnitude, surely you need your star striker to play?
What it did was also have a detrimental effect on Sanchez who struggled to find space to operate in. Even if Lacazette was only a peripheral figure in the game, he’s still the kind of striker who can come alive when the opportunity arises and it would’ve seen Sanchez freed up to have more of an influence in the game.
The Frenchman did eventually come on and took his chance with aplomb, drilling a low effort past Ederson from a difficult angle to briefly pull Arsenal back into the game.
Alexandre Lacazette
To Arsenal’s credit, they didn’t go gung-ho at the Etihad Stadium. They tried to keep things tight and offer a threat in attack as well. It was in no way the shambolic performance from the Gunners that some might have expected against a terrifying City side.
However, once again, there was a key missing ingredient in their performance and that was aggression. They showed City plenty of respect but ended up standing off them and allowing them space to operate in.
The first goal was a perfect example of that as Kevin de Bruyne had plenty of time to play a one-two with Fernandinho and didn’t have to worry about Laurent Koscielny closing him down as his left-footed shot from outside the box found the far corner.
Too many 50-50 battles in midfield were won by the hosts who despite having 58% of possession, made more tackles than Arsenal.
