The Gunners suffered another damaging home defeat after being blown away by a first-half City blitz.
There were just 89 seconds on the clock when Kevin De Bruyne’s well-taken goal from Gabriel Jesus’ cutback put the visitors ahead.
However, before that early setback, we’d had the first shot on target of the game. The livewire Gabriel Martinelli looked to pick up where he left off at West Ham and ran straight at the City defense, before forcing a smart save from Ederson.
Martinelli had another shot saved as we looked to regroup after the early blow, but it was City who extended their lead in a similar fashion to their first. This time De Bruyne was the creator, squaring for the unmarked Raheem Sterling to tap home at the far post.
De Bruyne scored his second while we were temporarily down to 10 men – Sead Kolasinac went off injured, and before Bukayo Saka could replace him, the Belgian found the bottom corner from outside the area.
Bernd Leno pulled off an incredible full-stretch save to deny De Bruyne his third before the break, tipping his curling effort onto the bar.
Freddie Ljungberg’s side had played well in flashes, but City had been ruthless. Our task in the second-half was huge.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang headed just wide two minutes after the break, but City continued to keep us at arm’s reach.
Aubameyang struck a first-time effort wide from the edge of the area, but the reigning champions also had their chances, forcing Leno into two or three more solid stops, notably from Jesus and Riyad Mahrez.
