City made it 18 straight wins in all competitions – and equated to our club record 11 wins in a row – by beating Arsenal 1-0 at the Emirates Stadium.
While much of our successful run has been due to our aggressive play, this has been built on hard work and commitment.
Raheem Sterling returned home from Riyad Mahrez’s perfect cross to give us a dream start within two minutes. Sterling’s goal was unusual but brilliant and rewarded City for a lightning-fast opening.
It looked like it woke up a number of City goals, but it turned out to be the winner, with our play that rarely hit highs a few weeks ago.
Joao Cancelo almost doubled our lead late on with an incredible out-of-foot effort that sailed just wide, but with Fernandinho excelling in midfield – and City midfielder again in brilliant form. – we all had one goal which was needed to get three crucial points.
Dominant City
The numbers tell a clear story: City is in beautiful shape.
He is now 25 games unbeaten, with our last case coming at the end of November away at Tottenham.
Since then, we have won 22 and drawn 3, scoring 59 and conceding just seven.
But this is perhaps the clearest sign of our leadership: during that run, City have only been behind once, and that was to League Two side Cheltenham in the FA Cup.
It’s a great time, one that has got our season off to a beautiful start as we head into spring yet with a chance to win all four top prizes.
Vintage Ferna
At 35, he may not be able to play three games a week, but there is no doubt about Fernandinho’s enduring quality.
He returned to City’s midfield base for this game and was outstanding, with his unstoppable ability to be in the right place at the right time crucial in bringing security and stability to City.
It has a very good range of passing, excellent view and will bring dynamism to that area in front of the back four.
Our skipper and leader off the field, he remains an important element.
Clachan an centurion
This was John Stones’ 100th appearance in the Premier League for City, and they have all come under Guardiola’s rule.
Raheem Sterling (156) and Kyle Walker (110) are the only other two English players to reach a century of Premier League games under Guardiola.
Well done, John!
Teams
Arsenal
XI: Leno, Bellerin, Holding (David Luiz 83 ‘), Mari, Tierney, Elneny (Ceballos 86’), Xhaka, Saka, Odegaard (Lacazette 73 ‘), Pepe (Smith-Rowe 73’), Aubameyang
Subs: Ryan, Cedric, Gabriel, Willian, Martinelli
City
XI: Ederson, Cancelo, Clachan, Dias, Zinchenko, Fernandinho, Gundogan, De Bruyne (Jesus 63 ‘), Bernardo, Mahrez, Sterling
Subs: Steffen, Walker, Aguero, Laporte, Rodrigo, Torres, Mendy, Foden
Zone Stat
City have retained 23 clean sheets in all competitions in this campaign (from 38 games), more than any other team in the top five European leagues or in the top four leagues of English league football.
For context, we held 23 competitive net pages in the entire 2019/20 season (from 59 matches).
Pep response
To be continued…
What it means
The win reaffirms our 10-point lead at the top of the Premier League, which was reduced to seven when Leicester City beat Aston Villa in the game earlier.
This was our 13th consecutive award.
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1 |
|
City of Manchester Man City |
25 |
18 |
5 |
2 |
50 |
15 |
35 |
59 |
WWWWW |
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|
2 |
|
City of Leicester Leicester |
25 |
15 |
4 |
6 |
44 |
27 |
17 |
49 |
DLWDW |
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|
3 |
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Manchester United Man United |
24 |
13 |
7 |
4 |
50 |
31 |
19 |
46 |
LDWDD |
The next thing
Our Champions League campaign kicks off on Wednesday when we face Borussia Monchengladbach in the first leg of our last-16 tie. That match takes place in Budapest, with the kick-off at 8pm GMT.
We’ll have full coverage here on ManCity.com, with live text updates from 6pm and the We’re Not Really Here live show starting at 7pm. Kevin Horlock and Paul Dickow are studio guests for that one.
And then next weekend, we host West Ham in form, who won over Tottenham earlier on Sunday meaning they are in Champions League places. David Moyes’ side have won seven of their last nine league games and are now two points ahead of fifth-placed Chelsea and five ahead of sixth-placed Liverpool.
That match will start at 12.30pm GMT on Saturday 27 February.