HIGHLIGHTS | That all-important win! 💪
— Manchester City (@ManCity) October 17, 2020
🔷 #ManCity | https://t.co/axa0klD5re pic.twitter.com/vj8dae7gZe
Arsenal manager, Mikel Arteta has revealed why he decided not to start new singing, Thomas Partey against Manchester City in a Premier League action on Saturday.
The Ghana international joined Arsenal on transfer deadline day but only arrived in London on Tuesday after international duty.
Arteta gave Partey a taste of the action at the Etihad with eight minutes remaining. The manager said he wants to give him time to adjust to his new surroundings.
“Yes, we will see how quickly we can make it with him. I think we have to respect that process and that timing for him because he only trained for a day really and there’s a lot of new information and different game models for him to understand, and we have to respect that,” he said.
The Spaniard further stated that the Ghanian looked good after coming on.
Raheem Sterling’s strike proved to be the difference
Sterling’s first-half goal was the difference between both teams. This gave Pep Guardiola another win over his former assistant. It was also Man City’s second win in four games.
The English winger, who was out injured during the international break was given the armband by Guardiola with Fernandinho on the bench and Kevin de Bruyne injured. He finished off the rebound after Phil Foden’s 23rd-minute shot had been saved.
Ederson made more saves than Leno
There has been notable progress under Arteta. It could be seen that Saturday’s witnessed more from Ederson than Bernd Leno.
This has been the other way round in their previous meeting with City running riot on most occasions. Guardiola, since taking over from Manuel Pellegrini has won the five games played at the Etihad against Arsenal.
Leno wasn’t called upon too much at the Etihad. Unfortunately, he was on the losing side after Sterling’s first-half winner.
Additionally, Arsenal weren’t as defensive minded as they were in the two previous encounters. The Gunners came out to create chances, calling Ederson into action on those occasions.
The Brazilian goalie denied Arsenal on three occasions in the first half. David Luiz and Nicolas Pepe were also off target with free-kicks in good positions after the break.
Speaking after the game, Leno stated that the gap between the two sides has closed.
Expressing the team’s disappointment on the outcome of the game, the German goalie said Arsenal played well and competed against City.
He pointed that it was a real tactical battle with a lot of passes, making it very interesting for people who are interested in tactics.
“At the end, you could see that everybody wanted to win the game and then it doesn’t matter how, whether it’s from tactics or set-pieces, and unfortunately we lost the game.”
He also rued the missed chances, saying Arsenal missed a little bit of the lucky punch.
“We tried at the end with set-pieces and crosses, but like you said, we couldn’t finish the action. It was our only main problem in the end because I think we were better in the game in the second half and we controlled the game, but maybe a good chance was missing.”
