Pain in the Arsenal
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Arsenal Vs Manchester City: 5 things we learned – Guendouzi lone bright spark

By Andrew Dowdeswell

LONDON, ENGLAND - AUGUST 12: Granit Xhaka of Arsenal and Mesut Ozil of Arsenal look dejected after conceding a second goal during the Premier League match between Arsenal FC and Manchester City at Emirates Stadium on August 12, 2018 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - AUGUST 12: Granit Xhaka of Arsenal and Mesut Ozil of Arsenal look dejected after conceding a second goal during the Premier League match between Arsenal FC and Manchester City at Emirates Stadium on August 12, 2018 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images) /
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LONDON, ENGLAND – AUGUST 12: Granit Xhaka of Arsenal and Mesut Ozil of Arsenal look dejected after conceding a second goal during the Premier League match between Arsenal FC and Manchester City at Emirates Stadium on August 12, 2018 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND – AUGUST 12: Granit Xhaka of Arsenal and Mesut Ozil of Arsenal look dejected after conceding a second goal during the Premier League match between Arsenal FC and Manchester City at Emirates Stadium on August 12, 2018 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images) /

Arsenal hosted Manchester City on the opening weekend of the Premier League season on Sunday afternoon. Here are five things we learned from the 2-0 defeat.

It was always going to be a tough start to the season for Unai Emery and his new Arsenal era. Welcoming arguably the greatest team in Premier League history into your stadium to open the new campaign is never a nice thing to do. To do it when replacing a 22-year-long-tenured manager is even more difficult. Manchester City were excellent. Their hosts less so.

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Here are five things we learned from City’s 2-0 victory over the Gunners.

LONDON, ENGLAND – AUGUST 12: Riyad Mahrez of Manchester City runs with the ball during the Premier League match between Arsenal FC and Manchester City at Emirates Stadium on August 12, 2018 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND – AUGUST 12: Riyad Mahrez of Manchester City runs with the ball during the Premier League match between Arsenal FC and Manchester City at Emirates Stadium on August 12, 2018 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images) /

5. Speed out wide

When discussing the greatness of this Manchester City team, many people like to focus on the pretty passing of the midfield, the calm, composed play of the defence, working the ball from defensive areas into more advanced positions, the individual quality of players like Sergio Aguero and Kevin de Bruyne. But what I believe is their most potent and influential asset is something very simple and a little bit of a throwback to older times: pace out wide.

Today, it was Raheem Sterling and Riyad Mahrez. Their very presence made it difficult for Arsenal to defend. They stretched the pitch extremely wide, provided space for the technical midfielders to work in and blistered through their hosts on the counter-attack. Contrast that to Arsenal’s two wingers, Mesut Ozil and Henrikh Mkhitaryan.

No disrespect to the pair of them, but they are not burners. They do not have that searing turn of speed that is needed to really threaten Premier League defences. And it illustrates Arsenal’s general lack of pace, especially in wide positions. This is quite a slow team and it causes them a great number of problems — they lose second balls, they can’t pull the opposition out of position, they struggle to create, find and then exploit space. It was evident here.