Kevin De Bruyne revealed a crucial tactical move that enabled Manchester City to defeat Arsenal. City destroyed Arsenal’s chances of capturing their first Premier League title in 19 years, defeating the North London club 4-1 at the Etihad. Goals from Kevin de Bruyne, John Stones, and Erling Haaland helped City cut Arsenal’s lead at the top of the league to just two points, with Pep Guardiola’s side still having two games in hand.
Despite Arsenal’s modest advantage in the table, City, the reigning champions, dominated the game from start to finish. With midfield maestro Kevin De Bruyne scoring twice, assisting once, and being named player of the match, the title contenders ran riot against the Gunners, who can still be content with the fact that they competed for the title.
Kevin De Bruyne details in on City’s plan which carved out the Gunners
Kevin De Bruyne described a crucial tactical move that enabled City to defeat Arsenal. After only seven minutes, City seized the lead when Haaland fed De Bruyne. The Belgian raced forward after receiving the ball from Haaland and blasted past the Arsenal ‘keeper from the edge of the box.
Stones then headed home a Kevin De Bruyne free-kick on the stroke of halftime, despite a long VAR review ruling him offside. De Bruyne then completed a fantastic individual performance and an overwhelming victory for City by burying goal number three after being set up once again by Haaland.
Arsenal’s Rob Holding pulled one back in the 86th minute, it was only a consolation as Haaland scored his 49th goal of the season in injury time. A rampant City bulldozed over the young Gunners who were running around the Etihad pitch as headless chickens. Speaking of the tactical tweak after the game, Kevin De Bruyne told BT Sport:
“When they play man-to-man we have to go a bit longer because there is no space to play short passes. In the second half, it was 50/50, they are a very class team and hard to play against. We had to be at our best today and I think we were. I think we set up a bit differently rather than with the two 8s, I had a little bit more the freedom to go left and right, who was putting pressure from them between Partey and Xhaka and trying to find space.”
However, in his post-match press conference, Arteta mentioned that City had used a long ball in the previous encounter, which Guardiola’s team won 3-1. The Arsenal boss said:
“They did that in the first game. They win the duel, they run through you. You have to compete and win your duels, we didn’t do basic things. We could have been even more punished. The way we were in the first 20 or 30 minutes, we could not handle the situation. We knew they have the capacity to do this, they can stretch the pitch 60 or 70 yards with that goalkeeper.”
Both Erling Haaland and Kevin De Bruyne have been crucial to City’s run of form, which has come at the best time in this title race. Haaland has now scored 16 goals in his past nine appearances, while De Bruyne has already contributed eight goals in City’s last four league games. And the duo were a constant threat throughout the game, combining superbly for the first and third goals as they reversed roles, with Haaland becoming the provider to set up De Bruyne.