Having drawn their last three games in embarrassing fashion, Arsenal were desperate to end their winless run against their title-rivals, but instead were humbled by Pep Guardiola’s side.
The Citizens were simply a class above as De Bruyne scored twice and assisted John Stones, with Rob Holding’s late consolation the only bright moment for the visitors, before Erling Haaland scored late in injury time.
City were quick out of the traps and arguably could have had a penalty within the opening few minutes after Thomas Partey appeared to foul De Bruyne after Aaron Ramsdale palmed the ball into the Belgian’s path but referee Michael Oliver was unmoved.
It mattered not as the home side took the lead after just seven minutes courtesy of De Bruyne’s effort from outside of the box following a swift counter-attack.
From there, City were in cruise control and ought to have put themselves five or six goals up within the first-half alone, with Ben White denying De Bruyne a second with a good block after the attacking midfielder had cut through Arsenal’s defence like a knife through butter.
Erling Haaland could have scored four goals all by himself, but was thrice denied by Ramsdale and had a shot curl just narrowly wide.
Eventually, City did find the back of the net again on the stroke of half-time when Stones headed in unmarked from a free-kick, with VAR awarding the goal after finding that White was playing the centre-back onside.
Arsenal meanwhile were unable to get into the game, looking shell-shocked and devoid of any ideas, failing to muster a shot on target until the 57th minute when Holding saw an effort deflected over the bar.
But by then it was already 3-0 and game over, with De Bruyne bagging his brace shortly after the break after Martin Odegaard gifted the ball to Haaland who easily put it on a plate for his teammate.
In such a big match as this, tempers unsurprisingly flared up on a few occasions, notably just before the break when Ruben Dias kicked out at White in what could well have been a red card incident, while Jack Grealish and Thomas Partey also came to blows towards the end.
Following the third goal, there was little action to speak of until the 86th minute when Holding grabbed consolation goal with a fine finish.
The result means that City are now just two points behind the Gunners having played two games less, with just a handful of games remaining in the season, which will make them the undeniably favourites to win a seventh Premier League title and keep them on course to win the treble.
In my opinion, I think Mikel Arteta himself is to blame for the heavy defeat at the Etihad stadium.
Firstly, why did he not start Leandro Trossard? the January signing came in from the bench and immediately made a difference, grabbing a beautiful assist, something Gabriel Jesus was unable to do for the entirety of the game.
Trossard is a big game player, he understands these games, knows how to easily find spaces, break down defence and connect play upfront, something Gabriel Jesus seems to have lost since he returned from injury.
Secondly and the most biggest error is why on earth did he even went ahead to start Rob Holding.
The Arsenal centreback was shambolic again despite scoring an easy tap in goal.
I personally don’t blame Rob Holding, I do blame Mikel Arteta for consistently playing him, when the player himself isn’t good enough.
Since the Liverpool game, Mikel Arteta should have easily solve the Rob Holding problem by providing a more reliable cover up for the Injured Saliba, but he was too relaxed, lazy and incompetent enough to get it sorted and that significantly backfired on Arsenal in their last 3 games, where they have conceded 9 goals in total
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