🔬 The Debrief as Arsenal maul City; Man Utd lose again; Spurs win at last | OneFootball

Three Premier League games took place on Sunday, and they more than delivered.

Here's what we made of it all.

What happened? 📝

In a meeting of the top two in each of the last two seasons, Arsenal demolished Manchester City 5-1 in a statement win for Mikel Arteta's side.

Martin Ødegaard gave the Gunners the lead after just 103 seconds, but Erling Haaland equalised 10 minutes into the second half.

However, Arsenal rose as City sunk near-right away. Thomas Partey scored with the aid of a deflection, before Myles Lewis Skelly, Kai Havertz and Ethan Nwaneri put the seal on a famous win, as Arsenal ran riot against the champions.

Earlier in the day, Manchester United lost a seventh home league game of the season, going down 2-0 to Crystal Palace. Jean-Philippe Mateta was the hero, scoring twice in the second half as the Eagles soared once more against United.

Spurs also had a great away day, winning 2-0 at Brentford for a first league victory of 2024. Shorn of any recognised centre defenders, Ange Postecoglou's men battled hard throughout, and won it with an own goal from Vitaly Janelt in the first half, and a late strike from Pape Sarr.

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Player of the Day 🔥

With five different goalscorers, it was very much a collective effort from Arsenal, but one player stood above all at the Emirates, and almost from kick off.

Martin Ødegaard got the opener, but it was Rice who nipped the ball off Manuel Akanji, allowing it to fall to Kai Havertz, who played it across to the captain.

From here, the 26-year-old went from strength to strength, covering near-every blade of grass both with and without the ball, cleaning up at the back and making chances aplenty in the final third.

As well as a "pre assist", he got two official assists in the second half for Arsenal's academy pair, Myles Lewis-Skelly and Ethan Nwaneri.

The first was a neat through ball, while the second was a raking cross field pass, showing off his playmaking range.

If Arsenal are to hunt down Liverpool in the Premier League, or win a first-ever Champions League, they will need their club-record signing in this type of form.

Today, he laid down a marker.

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Stat of the Day 📊

Is the apprentice becoming the master?

What this means

In blunt terms: the title race remains alive.

Anything but a win today for Arsenal would have felt like a crushing blow to any hopes of a first league crown in 21 years, with Liverpool nine points after their win at Bournemouth.

It wasn't just a win, though, it was one that breathed life back into the Gunners' season at a crucial point.

As for City, any faint hopes of retaining their title have been extinguished, and they face a real battle for a top four finish.

Lower down the table, Palace leapfrog United into 12th after a second consecutive win at Old Trafford, while Spurs push 10 points clear of the relegation zone, and above Everton and West Ham, with a vital three points.

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What they said 🗣

Martin Ødegaard spoke for everyone connected to Arsenal with his words after their biggest win in years.

"It was a top game and a top result. The atmosphere was unbelievable, and we all enjoyed that one."

"We were rewarded with the high press, we won the ball and scored. Second half they scored, but the way we reacted was brilliant. Then, after that, it was unbelievable what we did."

Mikel Arteta echoed those sentiments, and praised the brilliant Myles Lewis-Skelly.

You need big individual performances to beat them. Myles was certainly one of them, the maturity he showed and competitiveness as well.

"He plays with that personality and he's scored a beautiful goal.

"He has been pushing us since he has been with us. We like his character and personality. He has so much courage.

After conceding five goals for just the second time in his managerial career, Pep Guardiola remained somewhat calm.

"I only regret the last 20, 25 minutes. We forgot to do what we should do, what we've done for 60, 65, 70 minutes. It's a difficult game starting like that in this stadium, against that team in the first minutes and it's happened many times this season.

I regret the last 15, 20 minutes. The rest? A really good game from our side. It's difficult when you see the result, but this is my feeling."

It was another home loss for Ruben Amorim, whose Manchester United tenure continues to go up and down by the week, and he didn't hide from it.

"Yes, hard day for the team, for the fans, we lose again. We improve in some areas of the game, we controlled better the game, we had more possession, we had situations, but, in the end, we suffered two goals that we can avoid."

On the other side, Oliver Glasner was unsurprisingly in buoyant mood following a famous win.

I’m absolutely delighted. All the credit to the players – a big performance today. The game was how we expected it. And also, to be honest, we had some minutes at the beginning, some minutes at the start of the second-half where we had to survive. Especially after half-time, we needed Dean Henderson and two big saves."

What's next? 👀

Tomorrow sees Chelsea host West Ham in Graham Potter's first return to Stamford Bridge, before there is a break from league action as the FA Cup fourth round kicks off at the weekend.

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