City’s gung-ho attack leaves them frail at the back

Within a minute of the kick-off, City had already committed men forward in their first real attack. More followed as David Silva and Kevin de Bruyne found space in-between the midfield and defensive lines. Minutes later they were behind, and it was unsurprising to see Arsenal hurt them on the counter. If City are to cope with their defence in its current state, they can’t repeatedly commit up to eight players forward and expect to get away with it.

Vincent Kompany remains absent for an undetermined period due to the psychological troubles he is having with his recovery from injury, John Stones has been dropped and Aleksandar Kolarov simply isn’t a centre-back. If Pep Guardiola doesn’t ease back on the gas slightly, City will continue to remain exposed.

Arsenal need to meet Özil’s and Sanchez’s demands

No player is bigger than a club, but two might be. That’s an exaggeration of course, but the understanding that Mesut Özil and Alexis Sanchez have is almost telepathic. They repeatedly linked up and looked lethal moving forwards, with one knowing immediately where the other would be without lifting their head up.

Arsenal are reluctant to increase their wages to around £250,000-a-week, and understandably so. It will create a huge gulf, with the next best paid player in the squad being Theo Walcott on £110,000-a-week. However, it is Özil and Sanchez that will not only lead this side to any success they enjoy, but also attract similar quality players to the club.

Gunners punished for complacency

Arsenal must have found the first half so easy that, in their minds, the game was won even though they only led 1-0. Why else would they come out for the second half and attempt to play out from the back in situations that really required the ball to be cleared to safety. Both Gabriel Paulista and Francis Coquelin gave possession away on the edge of the area by trying to keep the ball, and wave after wave of City attacks came in the second half as Arsenal struggled to keep the ball.

Guardiola elected to make a change at the break, but bringing on Bacary Sagna for Pablo Zabaleta was hardly the gamechanger and something was clearly wrong with the mentality of the Arsenal players from the restart. Two minutes later, they had conceded.

Manchester City vs Arsenal player ratings Show all 23 1 /23 Manchester City vs Arsenal player ratings Manchester City vs Arsenal player ratings Manchester City vs Arsenal Who impressed as Pep Guardiola's side beat Unai Emery's at the Etihad Stadium? The Independent Manchester City vs Arsenal player ratings Ederson - 8 out of 10 Came off his line superbly to beat Aubameyang to the ball. Little he could do to prevent Koscielny’s equaliser. Getty Manchester City vs Arsenal player ratings Kyle Walker - 6 out of 10 An improvement on some recent performances. Comfortable when in a back three after playing the same role with England. Getty Manchester City vs Arsenal player ratings Nicolas Otamendi - 6 out of 10 A forceful presence at the back, sometimes too forceful. One robust first-half challenge on Lacazette went unnoticed. Getty Manchester City vs Arsenal player ratings Aymeric Laporte - 7 out of 10 Picks up a rare assist, crossing for Aguero’s first, then saw a goal disallowed for offside. Covered well for Sterling, who was alone on the left flank. Getty Manchester City vs Arsenal player ratings Fernandinho - 7 out of 10 Initially struggled to exert his usual control over the midfield in the first half, perhaps because he had to keep dropping back into defence, but improved. Getty Manchester City vs Arsenal player ratings Bernardo Silva - 7 out of 10 Out of position on the wing and less influential than he often is in a central role but still troubled Arsenal’s left side. Getty Manchester City vs Arsenal player ratings Ilkay Gundogan - 8 out of 10 Almost faultless when distributing the ball. A delicate chip over the top of the defence in the build-up to Aguero’s goal was his best. Getty Manchester City vs Arsenal player ratings David Silva - 7 out of 10 Not masterful from Il Mago but an all-round improvement on his display at St James’ Park, sprinkled with the odd special touch or pass. Getty Manchester City vs Arsenal player ratings Kevin De Bruyne - 6 out of 10 Did not have his usual influence on the game. An off-day though hardly anything to be concerned about. Getty Manchester City vs Arsenal player ratings Raheem Sterling - 8 out of 10 Created two of Aguero’s three, ghosting superbly behind Lichtsteiner for the second. Asked to cover the entire left flank but did not look out of place. Getty Manchester City vs Arsenal player ratings Sergio Aguero - 9 out of 10 Header, right foot, left arm. An unconventional hat-trick but his 14th in City colours. The wrong side of 30 now but his predatory instincts have not waned. Getty Manchester City vs Arsenal player ratings Bernd Leno - 6 out of 10 Dives too early and the wrong way for Aguero’s first but denied City impressively on several occasions after it. Getty Manchester City vs Arsenal player ratings Stephan Lichtsteiner - 5 out of 10 Caught out by Sterling’s intelligent movement, particularly on City’s second. Arsenal’s third-choice at right back and it showed. Getty Manchester City vs Arsenal player ratings Shkodran Mustafi - 6 out of 10 Equalises from Torreira corner, Monreal flick-on, but culpable for letting Aguero go at the far post for City’s crucial second. Getty Manchester City vs Arsenal player ratings Laurent Koscielny - 5 out of 10 Five yards behind the rest of the Arsenal defence for Aguero’s first, playing every City player onside, though perhaps did not anticipate Iwobi’s error. Getty Manchester City vs Arsenal player ratings Nacho Monreal - 7 out of 10 Neat near-post flick-on for Koscielny’s equaliser. Coped well enough with Bernardo despite being given little support. Manchester City vs Arsenal player ratings Alex Iwobi - 5 out of 10 Dispossessed deep in his own half by Laporte. Attempted to make up for his mistake and was tidy enough, though did little to atone. Getty Manchester City vs Arsenal player ratings Lucas Torreira - 8 out of 10 Made several key interceptions and tackles, especially as momentum shifted towards Arsenal in the first half. Getty Manchester City vs Arsenal player ratings Matteo Guendouzi - 7 out of 10 Poor start but did not hide and grew into the game as it went on. Largely shut down City’s midfield with Torreira until the game got away from Arsenal. Getty Manchester City vs Arsenal player ratings Sead Kolasinac - 6 out of 10 Stationed at left midfield but perhaps too adventurous for his full-back’s liking, with Monreal left one-on-one with Bernardo too often. Getty Manchester City vs Arsenal player ratings Alexandre Lacazette - 6 out of 10 Him and Aubameyang were sat strangely deep, bulking up Arsenal’s midfield, and this affected his ability to get forward. Getty Manchester City vs Arsenal player ratings Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang - 6 out of 10 As with Lacazette, often too deep to threaten, though a little brighter than his partner and Arsenal’s main threat on the counter-attack. Getty

Sane decision close enough to consider it right

The moment David Silva played his pass through for Leroy Sané to run on to, the German was almost perfectly in-line with the last Arsenal defender in Laurent Koscielny. It was a decision that had Arsenal fans screaming for offside and the home supporters happy to wave play on. Replays were still inconclusive, and it took a freeze frame to show that the City midfielder was millimetres offside.

Leroy Sane scores for Manchester City to equalise against Arsenal (Reuters)

With assistant referees required to look at the line as well as where the ball is being played from, decisions like these can go either way. Arsenal may not like it as Sané held his nerve to tuck the ball past Petr Cech, but in these situations it should be right to give the attacker the benefit of the doubt.

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Arsenal’s problem lies at the back

Arsenal have not kept a clean sheet since the 2-0 EFL Cup win over Reading on 25 October, and you have to go back three days’ further to find the last game where they did not concede in the league. Chelsea meanwhile have conceded just two goals in the league since they last lost a game, which came in September’s thrashing at Arsenal, and they are proving once again that strong teams are built on stern defences.

Arsenal have conceded five goals in three matches with Gabriel at the back (Getty)