Manchester City vs Arsenal player ratings: Mesut Özil terrible as Kevin de Bruyne and Raheem Sterling star

Man-for-man marking form City's 2-1 victory over Arsenal in the Premier League

Joe Miles
Sunday 18 December 2016 15:10 EST
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(Getty)

Manchester City turned around a woeful first-half performance against Arsenal to beat the Gunners 2-1 at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday and move up to second place in the Premier League.

With Liverpool not playing until their Merseyside derby with Everton on Monday night, City could move within six points of league leaders Chelsea, but things were looking ominous when Theo Walcott opened the scoring for the visitors inside five minutes.

A smart inside pass from Alexis Sanchez released Walcott behind the City defence, and he took a touch to get the ball out from beneath his feet before delicately putting the ball past goalkeeper Claudio Bravo.

City were unable to enjoy any success for the remainder of the first half as Arsenal cruised through to the break, but it was a very different story after play resumed.

City came out firing, and within two minutes they were level. Arsenal failed to pick up Petr Cech’s goal kick and David Silva played a through ball for Leroy Sane, who was inches offside, to run through on goal and slot the ball past Cech.

City weren’t done yet, and after a beautiful cross-field ball from Kevin de Bruyne to Raheem Sterling, the England international stepped inside Nacho Monreal and fired the ball between Cech and the near post to secure the win.

So how did the players perform? Click on the gallery above to find out.

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