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Arsenal’s standout player in Man City defeat
By Toby Hill
Arsenal’s tenure at the top of the Premier League table ended after Pep Guardiola’s serial-winning Manchester City team won 3-1 at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday night.
The stakes for this match were high with top spot up for grabs. Mikel Arteta’s side knew they would have to be at their best to overcome the champions. They were good, but it just wasn’t to be.
Takehiro Tomiyasu’s inclusion into the starting line-up, over Benjamin White, failed to pay dividends as he gifted Kevin De Bruyne the chance to lob Aaron Ramsdale and give the Citizens the lead.
Bukayo Saka levelled with a penalty, before Jack Grealish and Erling Haaland struck in the second half to bring all three points to the blue side of Manchester.
Arteta undoubtedly left the Emirates disappointed. But from all negatives, come positives.
Arsenal’s standout player in Man City defeat
Here is the key standout player from Arsenal’s first home Premier League loss this season.
Standout player #1 – Jorginho
👏 Credit to Jorginho - proved a lot of people wrong tonight, including myself
— Rory Talks Football (@Rory_Talks_Ball) February 15, 2023
Arguably our best player on the pitch and certainly not the reason for our loss pic.twitter.com/KtGMCnxDfJ
This was a game Jorginho was signed for. After being brought into the starting line-up as a result of the omnipresent Thomas Partey being injured, fans’ emotions were high. However, the former Chelsea midfielder showed why Arteta has been an admirer for so long.
The timing of his inclusion was awkward. Neither Arteta nor the Arsenal fans would have wanted to see Jorginho ahead of Partey for the all-important match against Man City.
Nonetheless, Jorginho showed the Emirates cognoscenti exactly what he can bring. He was calm on the ball – on a night where Arsenal’s defence made multiple mistakes – and progressive with his passes. In fact, Jorginho made 11 passes into the final third and chucked in a goal-line clearance too.
This performance highlights why he has been a key cog in many of Chelsea’s systems and the Italian national team.
There is a time and a place for Jorginho to exercise what he can bring to Arsenal: big games at the Emirates seem to be precisely that. The fee of £12m to pry the 31-year-old away from Chelsea was worth it if he continues like that.