Man City 0-0 Arsenal: Player ratings as top of the table clash ends in stalemate
Manchester City and Arsenal played out a bore draw at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday, allowing Liverpool to take control of the Premier League title race.
The 0-0 draw ensures that Liverpool end Easter Sunday with a two point lead ahead of second place Arsenal and three ahead of third place Man City, having beaten Brighton and Hove Albion earlier in the day at Anfield.
Here's how the rather dour game of football played out at the Etihad.
The first chance of the game would fall to ex-Man City man Gabriel Jesus, who after controlling a dinked Ben White cross at the back post, fluffed his lines by scuffing his subsequent volleyed effort wide of the post.
After that missed chance, City were able to pin Arsenal back into their own defensive third for much of the rest of the first half. For all their possession and territorial dominance though, David Raya remained basically untested throughout the half.
Aside from City tapping the ball around in front of the Arsenal defence, the only other notable occurrence of the first half proved to be an injury suffered by Nathan Ake. The talented defender was force doff inside the opening 25 minutes with an apparent muscle injury, being replaced by the young Rico Lewis on the right of City's back four.
It would take Man City until the second minute of the second half to finally come close to opening the scoring, when Mateo Kovacic saw a curling effort from outside of the box whiz just past the post.
The substitutions made by Mikel Arteta and Pep Guardiola on the hour make gave a clear indication of how the remaining 30 minutes at the Etihad were due to play out — Guardiola bringing on Jack Grealish and Jeremy Doku while Arteta brought on Thomas Partey and Takehiro Tomiyasu.
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