Arsenal vs Man City result: Five things we learned as Pep Guardiola’s side reach another semi-final

Manchester City beat Arsenal 4-1 in the League Cup quarter-final on Tuesday night.

The away team went ahead within a couple of minutes, with Gabriel Jesus beating Alex Runarsson at the near post and Pep Guardiola’s side were utterly dominant from that point on in the first 45 minutes, with a few half-chances being spurned.

But Alexandre Lacazette headed in the equaliser just after the half-hour mark with almost the first real attack of any purpose the home side had managed, and they slowly improved somewhat in the minutes before the break.

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City regained the lead 10 minutes after the restart after Riyad Mahrez’s free-kick was horribly fumbled into the net by Gunners keeper Runar Runarsson, before Phil Foden clipped in the third soon after - though he looked to be offside. With no VAR in this round, the goal stood, and Aymeric Laporte added gloss to the scoreline as Arsenal crumbled.

Here are five things we learned from the game.

A glimmer…and it’s gone

Ahead of the match, Mikel Arteta had implored supporters not to place all their hopes of a season recovery on Gabriel Martinelli. The Brazilian made a quick impact after signing, but a long-term injury means this was his first start post-original-lockdown in 2020.

There was work rate, quickness in his movement, a real desire on and off the ball to get involved and help his team…but also a quick setback.

Just a few minutes after providing a good assist, a cross from the left for Lacazette’s header, Martinelli was down: a collision with City keeper Zack Steffan left him in pain and he didn’t really recover.

Despite walking on until half-time, then attempting a few minutes after the restart, he was back off again within two minutes and the hope will be it’s not another lengthy absence or serious injury, as he showed more endeavour in his half on the pitch than several in an Arsenal shirt have done on too many occasions this term.

Laporte looking for form

He might have scored the final goal of the night, but at the other end of the pitch Aymeric Laporte is going through an unusual spell at present.

Given the improbable re-rise to prominence of John Stones, it’s an untimely loss of form for Laporte after some heavy expenditure at the back this summer by his club.

He lost the header for Arsenal’s goal against Lacazette, but his lack of surety was visible even before that: he failed to cut out a cross, then didn’t get back into position, was stuck on the wrong side of Oleksandr Zinchenko and couldn’t get back to deny the French striker.

Add in losing a few foot races with the veteran forward, a few wayward passes and losing aerial battles in open play and it was a million miles away from his best, most dominant type of performance.

Rue-narsson

It was a strange decision for Mikel Arteta to rotate his goalkeeper for this game, it must be said. Perhaps Runar Alex Runarsson deserved a game for his training showings, perhaps the manager was just fed up with his team losing matches domestically.

But with City rotating and a cup semi-final berth at stake, this would surely have been an opportunity to inject some confidence and optimism into the side if they could pull off a win.

That was unlikely to begin with, and less so after the Icelandic goalkeeper’s dismal night. Despite one good save in a one-on-one, he was almost caught out trying to pass from the back on at least two occasions, before his nightmare moment saw him drop a well-struck, but straight-at-him free-kick, over his own shoulder and into the net - a real poor piece of the most basic goalkeeping imaginable.

Arsenal never recovered and the Icelandic stopper might not be playing too much more this season, save for in the FA Cup.

Pep’s near-perfect record

It’s over 1,500 days since City and Guardiola lost a League Cup match - a frankly ridiculous show of consistency, even in a cup eschewed by many of the strongest line-ups.

City have won the last three League Cups in succession and are well-placed to go all the way once more, as they are now into the semi-finals with perhaps three sides who might be capable of beating them still left in it, at least one of which will disappear on Wednesday.

Everton face Man United and either might be able to see off Pep’s side, while Spurs might also fancy their chances given they have recently beaten City. But equally, City have the greatest strength in depth and will remain favourites if opponents go with anything other than their strongest possible line-up.

They’ll have an eye now on matching Liverpool’s four-in-a-row record of League Cup wins.

Where next for Arteta?

Last season, while league form remained patchy and mid-table-esque, Arsenal had cup success to fall back on.

They won the FA Cup, had a decent run in the Europa League and had the odd result which sparked optimism, but 20/21 has so far been a woeful spiral of poor results and lethargic showings.

The Gunners are now 15th in the table and it doesn’t get any easier: Chelsea are next up on Boxing Day, before what will now be cruelly, and accurately, termed battles at the bottom against strugglers Brighton and West Brom - the former are 17th in the table, but only two points behind Arteta’s team.

Still a lot of work to do, and no easy way back to the top.