Arsenal have maintained their unbeaten record in the Premier League and have gone up to second in the table after narrowly beating reigning champions Manchester City at the Emirates.
Manchester City made the trip to the capital to face last season’s title rivals Arsenal in what many dubbed pre-match as an early six-pointer for this year’s title race in the English top flight.
Bukayo Saka’s availability dominated the headlines in the lead up to the clash, but unfortunately for Mikel Arteta and his side – their Hale End star didn’t recover from his injury in time for City’s visit.
A front three of Leandro Trossard, Eddie Nketiah and Gabriel Jesus were fielded to take on the treble-winners, and after a largely uneventful first-half, Gabriel Martinelli returned to the fold – making his first appearance for the Gunners in almost three weeks.
And it would be Martinelli, along with fellow second-half substitute Kai Havertz, that would make the all-important difference as the Brazilian’s curled effort deflected off the back of Nathan Ake and flew past Ederson on the 87 minute mark to hand the Gunners a late lead.
The Cityzens threw everything at the hosts’ defence in the dying stages of the game, but it was too little too late, as Pep Guardiola’s side were condemned to a third successive domestic defeat.
HUGE GOAL FOR ARSENAL! 🔥
Martinelli’s deflected effort gives Arsenal late lead ✅ pic.twitter.com/clU60QH4Sy
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) October 8, 2023
It’s a damaging defeat for City as they drop down to third place in the Premier League table, seeing the Gunners leapfrog them into second place – level on points with leaders Tottenham.
The pair face a break with the upcoming international window, but return to action in the English top flight on the 21st of this month, as Arsenal take on Chelsea and City take on Brighton.
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