Arsenal’s epic clash with Manchester City opened the fourth round of the FA Cup. Pep Guardiola’s team thrashed Chelsea 4-0 in the previous round, and Mikel Arteta’s players beat Oxford 3-0 United. The match between Manchester and Arsenal was also closely watched by Polish fans. Jakub Kiwior was included in the match squad for the first time. However, he started the match on the bench, and his place on the pitch was taken by Gabriel Magalhaes. The Pole could only passively watch as his team was eliminated from the tournament.
Manchester reached the 1/8 finals of the FA Cup. Kiwior watched helpless Arsenal from the bench
Fans gathered at the Etihad Stadium could count on emotions from the first minutes. All thanks to Takehiro Tomiyasu. In the 5th minute, the Arsenal defender fired a shot from border penalty area, but Stefan Ortega showed off a successful intervention. It was similar in the 21st minute. Then Leandro Trossard kicked the ball into the middle of the goal. And with this shot, the Manchester City goalkeeper had no problem.
Guardiola’s players first came to the fore only in the 25th minute. Kevin De Bruyne tried to fit the ball just past the far post, but he made a slight mistake and it missed the far post.
Erling Haaland has also started to appear more often in Arsenal’s goal. In the previous league meeting with Wolverhampton, he scored a hat-trick, which is why Arsenal’s centre-backs focused their attention primarily on the young striker. In the first half, they were quite brutal in stopping him from taking a shot. In one action, Haaland was even elbowed in the head and asked for medical help. Moments later, he was able to continue the competition. Only he couldn’t take a shot on target anymore. Anyway, in the last minutes of the first part, not much happened and eventually the players went to the locker room with a goalless draw.
The second half started very calmly. It wasn’t until the 55th minute that De Bruyne threatened Arsenal’s goal. He fired a shot low into the center of the goal, but again Matt Turner did a perfect job between the posts. The goalkeeper cleared the ball easily.
Turner was not so lucky in the 64th minute. First, Julian Alvarez blasted unexpectedly at Arsenal’s goal, but the ball hit the post. This was not the end of this action. Moments later, Jack Grealish intercepted the ball in the penalty area. He made several swings over the ball, then passed it to Nathan Ake, who shot into the bottom right corner of the goal, putting Manchester ahead.
The goal infuriated the Arsenal players, who with “double” strength began to attack City. Unfortunately for them, the goalkeeper of the hosts, however, performed without reservations and helped the team to advance to the 1/8 finals of the FA Cup.
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