I’ll leave you here – with Daniel Taylor’s match report. Thanks for your company this afternoon. Business as usual for City; plus ca change for Arsenal, although I suspect they will improve from here. Enjoy the rest of your day!
Arsenal outran City today, the stats show, which suggests they are taking some of Emery’s approach onboard. Now to refine it and make sure they’re more efficient on the ball. Chelsea, similarly in flux, might be a better test of their current standing next week.
Words from Sterling:
“First game of the season you want to start well and I’m happy to contribute today, I’m just glad we got the win. There’s been a lot of talking so ... [referring to a cupped-ears goal celebration].”
Words from Silva:
“To start well it’s always important so we’re very happy, a fantastic game for us. Now we have to keep going. We wanted to be professional and be serious like last season.
“In the beginning of the second half we knew we had to keep going try and score the second one, they started the second half very strong but in the end we were better than them.”
A lot of Arsenal’s problems today came from trying to play out from Cech, a little bit slavishly given that it was clearly not working from quite an early stage. Practice makes perfect but I wonder if that role might be better cut out for Leno, who was on the bench today.
Full-time: Arsenal 0-2 Manchester City
De Bruyne comes close at the death but then the whistle blows. That was very comfortable for City, who weren’t really close to their best but were up against an Arsenal team that is currently neither one thing nor the other. Sterling and Bernardo Silva scored fine goals; Arsenal never really looked like posing a consistent threat but they’ll need judging later, and against weaker sides than City. For now, the champions – without a number of key players from the start here – are up and running!
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92 min: Ederson gets away with another sloppy kick, which Mkhitaryan seizes upon by the right touchline. Lacazette might do a tad better than hammer his cutback over the bar.
90+1 min: We are in the first of four minutes’ added time.
89 min: Mendy blocks from Mkhitaryan at the edge of the box after Ozil’s set-up. To give them credit, Arsenal are still going.
88 min: Immediately, Sane has a go but it rolls wide of the near post. What a squad City have. Who can touch this, really?
87 min: Sane comes on for Sterling. You’d imagine he is nice and fresh.
85 min: Ohhh ... Ederson makes a ricket but Ozil, perhaps caught between taking the ball on and passing it to an offside Lacazette, doesn’t take his chance. And with that surely goes Arsenal’s last hope. At the other end a City flurry brings a couple of panicked tackles and a shot from Mendy deflected to Cech. Aubameyang then gets sent away but, for the second time in a few minutes, he’s offside and it doesn’t matter one bit that he goes on to finish.
83 min: There is no real belief, from either team and certainly not from any of the supporters, that this will finish anything other than Arsenal 0-2 City.
81 min: “I’ve heard it said that when you think Ozil is doing nothing, it’s actually just he’s working at such a high level that us mere mortals cannot comprehend it,” writes David Flynn. “By that same rationale, Mkhitaryan is possibly the best footballer in the world right now.”
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79 min: Now City run the clock down a little further, Gabriel Jesus replacing Aguero.
78 min: Torreira, impressive in his short time, reads a pass from De Bruyne to Mendy astutely, cuts it out and starts an attack. That is exactly what Arsenal need their midfielders to be doing.
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77 min: A short corner move finds Lichtsteiner at the back post, but he can’t control first time and, while he salvages the ball, can’t do a lot in driving it back across goal.
76 min: “Arsène Wenger, he’s won more than you,” is the chant I think I just heard from the North Bank. He’ll never leave!
@NickAmes82 Good evening. Does this match raise the question of how long it will take Arsenal to dewengerise the place? This has been a game that reeks of late period Arsene, from the wasted possession to the big-haired midfielder being repeatedly bypassed.
— abayo (@kawatabake) August 12, 2018
There is a sound argument for that and this is why people should hold fire on Emery for precisely one year, however things go.
74 min: I think Arsenal need a properly top-class centre-back, two new full-backs and a wide forward. What do you think?
71 min: Guendouzi tries a first-time effort from 25 yards and ... well ... that may genuinely have ended up somewhere near Finsbury Park. His debut has had plenty to commend it, but also some real raw spots. That’s to be expected.
70 min: Now here’s a debut for the very promising Torreira, on for the very booked Xhaka.
69 min: Ozil, his radar properly off, plays a pass exactly where Lacazette does not want it. City look happy to contain and break now.
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67 min: Arsenal win a corner and that’s their first of the game. They need something very soon to keep this game alive, but it won’t come now.
Goal! Arsenal 0-2 Man City (Bernardo Silva 64)
Erm, no it won’t. City are undeterred by Aguero’s mistake and come again. Mendy cuts one back from the byline and Bernardo Silva, swivelling onto a ball played a touch behind him, belts it brilliantly past Cech. That’s some finish and, with City not at their best in this half, surely puts the game to bed.
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63 min: Cech saves Arsenal ... but that’s a big miss from Aguero! Guendouzi completely misses a high ball on halfway and now Aguero has half the pitch to himself. He brings the ball forward towards Cech and, really, should square the ball to De Bruyne for a tap-in. But he goes it alone, takes aim, should still score, and Cech parries. Will that boost Arsenal?
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62 min: Not one of Ozil’s more influential days so far. He takes a flighted ball away from Lichtsteiner and a reasonable Arsenal move breaks down. City are getting a bit of stick for timewasting at the moment and I’m not really sure why they want to play so slowly.
60 min: ... and comes to absolutely nothing, a good two minutes after being awarded.
59 min: Another corner for City, who aren’t looking their most convincing just now. Lichtsteiner is getting animated about some handbags with Laporte. Oliver has a chinwag with both and, just as he’s about to take the corner, Mahrez is hooked for De Bruyne. He walks off, to a crescendo of boos. This set-piece has taken a very long time indeed to arrange ...
56 min: And Lacazette has an early opportunity – it sits up well on the edge of the ‘D’ but he loops it wide, with Ederson left standing. That’s more like it for Arsenal!
55 min: And that’s the end of Ramsey, who is replaced by Lacazette. Arsenal need some extra punch. I think I missed a Xhaka booking in there, you’ll be shocked to hear.
52 min: Ramsey plays a pass into touch that reminds me instantly of that famous Ricky van Wolfswinkel “effort” for Norwich at Fulham, albeit in a far less dangerous position. The fans audible to the mic snarl and grumble.
51 min: City have not produced a single thing of note from their eight flag kicks.
50 min: It’s been a slow start to the half, in truth, though City are seeing far more of the ball. Aguero flashes a deflected effort wide for a corner now, though, after an initial Mendy strike is blocked.
48 min: Sterling wins an early corner but City can’t create anything with it; Arsenal have a break on for a moment but Mkhitaryan, generally quiet so far, can’t find the pass.
Peeeep! Can Arsenal turn it around?
We shall find out in the next, oooh, 49 or so minutes.
Strap in, now, for the second half is moments away ...
From Kari Tulinius:
“I agree with you. I’ve seen a lot of Unai Emery’s teams through the years, and this Arsenal performance isn’t reminiscent of any of them. Emery teams at their best are like clockwork football, with players moving in perfect sync. At their worst it’s like watching a clock whose cogs and springs are jammed and breaking apart. Arsenal today are a lot like, well, the Arsenal of the last couple of years, with flashes of individual quality, but little cohesion. Emery has a lot to do before this is recognisably his team.”
Am I alone in thinking that the CL weeks will decide the PL @NickAmes82? Liverpool's challenge is to raise their game at weekends; City's is to raise their game on weekdays. City's hierarchy surely want a CL above everything and I feel PL form will subconsciously dip as a result
— Gary Naylor (@garynaylor999) August 12, 2018
Could be – but I just can’t see Guardiola letting them ease off and they more or less have the squad to keep on keeping on ...
So does Alex Whitney:
“As an Arsenal sympathiser, even against the world’s first or second most expensive team, had higher hopes for an Emery team than endless blootering the ball up to escape pressure in their own half. Good luck with that, boys. Guendouzi may have lots of talent, but starting him against such opposition in the opening match isn’t working out so well – ‘arry’s gran could have provided more competition for Sterling on the goal.”
Maybe, but what Emery really needs – and what he won’t get in today’s insufferably impatient society – is a year to get things as he wants them.
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Matt Loten writes in:
“Though I was certainly one of the many who felt that Sterling did a fine, if thankless, job at the World Cup, it’s striking how much more positive he has been for City today. Always looking to take his man on; no putting his foot on the ball and looking back to the deeper midfielders. I can understand why Southgate asked him to perform a different role for England, but I hope Gareth can find a way to fit this Sterling into the national team moving forward.”
Half-time: Arsenal 0-1 Man City
Arsenal will probably take that. They started quite well but City began to turn the screw and, after Sterling scored, threatened to run amok for a while. But the ship has been broadly steadied and there have been a couple of promising moments at the other end. The next goal will be crucial. Join me in 15 minutes to see who gets it!
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45+2 min: City get themselves into a bit of a mess playing out and it results in an opening for Mkhitaryan after sloppy play from Mendy. The defender recovers though, and the ball pings behind off the Arsenal man.
45 min: Now we do see Aubameyang. He finds a good area 25 yards out in the inside-left position, and cracks a shot that was a bit wider than Ederson’s dive made it look. Still, a positive to (almost) end the half on. We still have four minutes of added time.
44 min: Corner to City after a quite *sensational* 70-yard switch from Laporte to Mahrez. They’ve had six now to Arsenal’s zero, can they make one count? Short answer: no.
42 min: Another go at goal from Mahrez, who works the ball onto his left and looks to fade one into the far corner. It beats Cech but curls a yard wide.
41 min: Some of Arsenal’s attempts to build from the back have been borderline disastrous but their latest concession sees Gundogan, perhaps stubbing his toe, completely waste a good chance to play someone in.
39 min: Mahrez does draw a foul from the substitute, though, after a lovely turn in midfield. Can Arsenal see this though to the break?
37 min: Mahrez finds space to cross, but can’t find anyone. Lichtsteiner did well to track the overlap of Walker there, notably – the sign of a specialist full-back.
35 min: Maitland-Niles can barely run and, as City attack again, play is sportingly stopped to let him go off. He’d had a tough time out there, let’s be honest, but nobody wants to see this and it means a rejig for Arsenal. On comes the experience of Stephan Lichtsteiner, for his debut. He’s a right-back really but might have a bit of savvy against the might of Walker and Mahrez.
33 min: A sweet, Ramsey-led move from Arsenal almost brings a shooting chance for Mkhitaryan, but he is crowded out. That was their best piece of football this half, though, and the crowd respond suitably.
32 min: A bit of a pause here, for treatment to Maitland-Niles after a foul by Walker. It’s actually a good thing, this break, for Arsenal I think. They’ve been run ragged since the goal, apart from that flicker from Bellerin.
30 min: We’ve seen nothing of Aubameyang yet, nothing at all. He’s had nothing to play with. But all he tends to need is one chance.
29 min: Double save from Cech! He gets his paws on Mahrez’s whipped, low free-kick around the wall and then, with Laporte sniffing, recovers to block the rebound at point-blank range. From Mahrez’s corner, Laporte glances a header well wide despite having nobody near him.
27 min: City are cutting Arsenal’s midfield open at will and, after Xhaka cedes possession, Sokratis has to crudely scythe Aguero down right on the edge of the box. He’s booked. It was a good idea to make the foul, but this is a chance ...
25 min: Sterling is thwarted on the right of the box by a fine Maitland-Niles recovery tackle, and gets up before firing a cross-shot into the arms of a grateful Cech.
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24 min: Arsenal try a brief spell of feisty pressing, which I think City will see a bit more of this season, but it’s bypassed easily. Guardiola will probably have known what was coming.
22 min: Not so good from Cech, who nearly helps a Guendouzi backpass into his own net, skewing his attempted pass out just wide of his post! City again can’t do much with the corner but Arsenal are so skittish back there.
21 min: Ederson parries a Bellerin drive and that was much better from Arsenal, a move started from deep by Mkhitaryan and continued via Ozil and Maitland-Niles. City pour down the other end and Aguero lashes wide from an angle. Good stuff, this.
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20 min: “Jack Wilshere was on the wrong and of a 4-0 thrashing earlier; he might yet end the day thinking he got the better deal,” says Charles Antaki.
19 min: Bellerin cuts out an Aguero reverse ball that was destined for the breaking Mendy. Then Arsenal break and Guendouzi, looking a little too hasty, passes to nobody at all.
17 min: Now it’s Mendy overlapping, and Cech has to tip his deflected, drilled centre wide at the near post. The corner is dealt with but Arsenal really need to ride this spell out without much further damage.
Goal! Arsenal 0-1 Manchester City (Sterling 14)
Well, they’ve got that narrow lead and it was on the cards. It’s too easy really – Sterling picks the ball up on the left corner of the area, runs it along the edge with Guendouzi and others left behind him, and cracks a fine 18-yard drive into Cech’s far corner. A really good finish and now we’ll find out a lot about where Arsenal are.
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13 min: What’s happening? Not much since that Sterling effort but City have assumed a degree of control. I’d stick my neck out and predict a narrow win for then, on current evidence, with much talk of green shoots for Arsenal.
11 min: “Can people stop bigging up Liverpool’s chances of challenging City?” pleads Matt Dony. “It’s making me more nervous with each instance. Saying that, I find myself in the unusual position of wanting Arsenal to win today. It goes against pretty much everything I know ...”
9 min: Chance for Sterling – a lovely touch from Aguero sends him into the area on the left and, with Arsenal’s defence trailing, he cracks one from an angle. Cech saves well and City squander the corner, but they seem to be warming up ...
8 min: That Mahrez-Walker combination makes hay again and this tie Cech beats away the latter’s cross, City making so with a corner. It’s played short and little of consequence results, but that right side is already looking an area of great promise for City.
@NickAmes82 Always been a "Wenger In-er" but saw Arsenal play Chelsea in Dublin, admittedly at a season-warmer, and thought they looked good apart from Bellerin's defence. Much better balance and resilience, I'd wager, to the team this season. And that front three...
— William Hargreaves (@billhargreaves) August 12, 2018
They have started intelligently here, for my money.
6 min: Walker absolutely pelts it to the byline after good play from Mahrez, but his cross goes beyond everyone. Now City try to keep the pressure on but Arsenal press snappily and regain the ball soon enough.
5 min: Sterling is booked for a late barge into Guendouzi, who is everywhere early on. Play is halted while the midfielder takes a bit of treatment near halfway.
4 min: It’s been a nice, settled start from Arsenal, who have had all the possession. City, shorn of key men of course, have yet to get going.
2 min: Early sight of goal for Ramsey, who picks up a loose ball 20 yards out, but he jabs straight at Ederson with his right foot when it really sat up for a pop with his left.
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1 min: Guendouzi looks as if he’ll be playing very deep, picking the ball straight up from the back four.
Peeeep! Arsenal, left to right, start the game
It’s on!
Michael Oliver has awarded penalties against Arsenal in five of the last eight Premier League games he has officiated.
— Orbinho (@Orbinho) August 12, 2018
That’s the referee today, and that’s a stat, although I’m very sure Oliver has no #bias or #agenda.
They’re on their way out at the Emirates ... the new era is about to begin!
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“Liverpool are the only team that I can see putting the heat on us this season,” writes City fan David Waters. “If they can win one over against us that might be a massive turning point in the title race. Really think the season can come down to the two games we have against them. If we win one lose one, I’ll be happy with that, anything more is a bonus considering how good their team is. We’ve also got a new signing in Mahrez whereas Mendy is coming back from his injury so I can only see us getting better.”
I make you right on Liverpool, very much right.
Don’t forget to send your emails in! City fans – does everything have to get bigger and better from hereon or would you happily win the league on goals scored?
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More on Guendouzi – he was playing French second-tier football last season, so what a leap this is for him. He has slightly Fellaini-esque hair, if not quite as bouffant, so we won’t miss him. Arsenal used to deal with Lorient quite a lot – they sent a few players out there on loan in the early 2010s, in particular – so perhaps they were given an early heads-up as to his promise.
Emery speaks: “We want to continue the good things the team was doing. Then transmit our style and above all transmit all the supporters’ energy, the passion, and the tactical things on the pitch.”
Guardiola on Emery. How different will the challenge be? “I don’t know. We have to wait and see how his team plays and whether it’s different or not.”
Okay.
More pre-match reading, to go with the excellent stuff you can see linked at the top. Here are season previews for Arsenal, by Jacob Steinberg, and Man City, by yours truly:
Note, too, that utility man Ainsley Maitland-Niles starts at left-back for Arsenal today. I think he did in the 3-0 defeat I referred to, too. That defence looks creaky to me, very creaky, but I quite fancy Arsenal to cause a problem or two further forward.
Here’s a feast for your eyes – a fan’s eye view, in pictures, of Wenger’s last season at Arsenal:
Liverpool won 4-0 in the end ... will they top the first Premier League table of the season, or can one of these two pull something special out of the fire?
Meanwhile, Liverpool are pasting West Ham 3-0. So why don’t you enjoy the latter stages of that with Simon Burnton, then we’ll come back and talk more about this one. In particular, I’d like to hear your thoughts on those team selections. Arsenal fans – what’s so good about Guendouzi?
Team news
Arsenal: Cech, Bellerin, Mustafi, Sokratis, Maitland-Niles, Guendouzi, Xhaka, Ramsey, Özil, Mkhitaryan, Aubameyang. Subs: Leno, Lichsteiner, Holding, Elneny, Torreira, Iwobi, Lacazette.
Manchester City: Ederson, Walker, Stones, Laporte, Mendy, Fernandinho, Gündogan, Bernardo, Mahrez, Sterling, Agüero. Subs: Bravo, Kompany, De Bruyne, Sané, Otamendi, Jesus, Foden.
A bit of a surprise from Emery, who gives Matteo Guendouzi, the 19-year-old signed from Lorient, a debut. The midfielder has looked very good in pre-season. Sokratis also starts at the back. Fellow signings Leno, Lichtsteiner and Torreira are on the bench.
Meanwhile, that’s City at full tilt with the exceptions of De Bruyne and Sane, who start on the bench. So does Phil Foden despite his excellent Wembley performance.
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Hello
It’s a new dawn at Arsenal! No, please, come back, it actually is! Whether it’s the sort of dawn that brings long, sultry days on a tropical beach or the kind that beckons persistent stair-road degrees of shower is moot, but everything really has changed and today we’ll get our first competitive taste of how the Gunners might fare under Arsene Wenger Unai Emery.
There are grounds for optimism. It’s been a good pre-season by all accounts and a full-season of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang would suggest goals won’t be a problem. Mesut Ozil is still around; there’ve even been a few signings and the best of those, at first glance, is the tigerish Uruguayan midfielder Lucas Torreira. There’s the promise of a more diligent, alert, tactically-astute brand of football with a higher press – and what better petri dish than a match against the runaway champions, a team that pounces on your weaknesses, insecurities and callowness more ruthlessly than anyone since ... well ... the Arsenal of 2000-2004.
They know that all too well at the Emirates. Arsenal were given a hiding in this fixture a few months back, losing 3-0 on an absolutely freezing night in front of a paltry crowd that pretty much summed up where they were back then. It’ll be a much bigger attendance today and optimism will abound. A viewing of last week’s Community Shield might have dampened that slightly; City were superb against Chelsea and that was with Kevin De Bruyne, among others, still to return. The fire in Pep Guardiola’s belly burns hotter than ever, they say; there’ll be no letting up as they look to become the first team to retain the title since 2009, and three points here – however they come – would lay down a marker to anyone who things that 19-point margin can be chewed away at this time around.
So there we go. It could be an absolute cracker, this – keep your emails and tweets coming, and I’ll have some team news for you shortly.
