Manchester City struck first blood towards Arsenal as Nathan Ake’s aim earned Pep Guardiola’s males a spot within the fifth spherical of the FA Cup with a 1-0 win on Saturday.
The sides will meet twice extra within the subsequent three months within the Premier League with the title on the road.
Arsenal holds a five-point lead over the defending champion on the prime of the desk however fell to its first defeat since November on the Etihad.
Mikel Arteta could remorse making six modifications because the Gunners lacked their traditional spark within the last third, with Martin Odegaard and Gabriel Martinelli amongst these left on the bench.
But Martinelli’s alternative, Leandro Trossard, did make a optimistic impression on his full debut.
The Belgian worldwide teed up Takehiro Tomiyasu to sting the palms of Stefan Ortega earlier than Trossard pressured the German goalkeeper into the perfect save of the primary half.
In between instances on the different finish, Rob Holding was having to resort to man-handling Erling Haaland to maintain him quiet.
The Norwegian noticed an bold overhead kick from lengthy vary cleared by Tomiyasu with Arsenal ‘keeper Matt Turner stranded before Kevin De Bruyne curled City’s finest effort of the primary half inches large.
Arteta took no probabilities on the break by introducing William Saliba for Holding with the Englishman on a reserving.
Guardiola had made only one outfield change from City’s 3-0 win over Wolves.
However, it was one among his substitutes, Julian Alvarez, that introduced a lacklustre second half to life 26 minutes from time.
The Argentine’s long-range effort cannoned again off the put up, and from the rebound, Jack Grealish’s go picked out Ake, who curled into the far nook.
Arteta responded by throwing on Martinelli, Odegaard and Oleksandr Zinchenko.
The guests almost hit again instantly as solely a superb clearance from Aymeric Laporte denied Eddie Nketiah a tap-in.
But Arsenal didn’t create one other probability to equalise as City comfortably noticed out the closing levels to put down a marker on the challengers to their crown because the dominant power in English soccer.
