Alexandre Lacazette definitely made an impact when he came on, but was unable to prevent Arsenal from going down to a disappointing 3-1 defeat at one of the title favourites Manchester City.
Before kick-off many Gunners' fans were left wondering why on earth the summer signing from Lyon wasn't starting in such a big match. Why spend around £50 million on a striker of Lacazette's calibre to then not start him in a game against opposition as good as City? One player doesn't make a team and I'm not saying this alone decided the result of the match, but it certainly raised a lot of questions. The striker scored within nine minutes of coming off the bench and who knows what would have happened had he been on the pitch for longer.
Personally I would also like to have seen Jack Wilshere, who came on for the final 12 minutes, play a much bigger part in this match as he seems to have been really chomping at the bit lately and when on form he is still a great player.
What made the defeat all the more frustrating is that City didn't even have to hit top gear against us to get all three points. We made it far too easy for them and when we sloppily gave the ball away we didn't seem to show too much hunger to get it back. Petr Cech made some excellent saves to keep the score lower than it could have been, but other than the goalkeeper very few of our other players impressed at the Etihad.
We actually started the match quite brightly despite not creating many early clear-cut chances, but as soon as the first goal went in we struggled to find much of a response.
Alex Iwobi sent a volley off target early on, while Sergio Aguero shot over at the other end before Cech came to Arsenal's rescue. The experienced shot-stopper produced a fine diving save to keep out Kevin De Bruyne, but we failed to clear our lines properly. We gave City far too much space as the ball was worked back to the Belgian, who played a one-two with Fernandinho before scoring with a decent low strike into the far corner.
The hosts wasted a great chance to double their lead when they broke clear two on one, but Raheem Sterling opted to shoot instead of passing to Leroy Sane sooner and his eventual ball across went harmlessly off target.
Cech had to be alert to make another decent save, this time to prevent Laurent Koscielny from accidentally putting the ball into his own net.
City were good value for the lead, but Arsenal did come close to levelling the scores on the stroke of half-time only to see Aaron Ramsey's strike well parried by Ederson.
We had been second best in the first half, but there were signs of weakness in the City team. They were not at their fluid best and looked beatable if only we could reach our top form and produce an excellent second-half performance, but unfortunately we didn't do anywhere near enough.
Arsenal's hopes of a getting back into the game were dented further when City doubled their lead within five minutes of the restart. Sterling went down under a challenge from Nacho Monreal before Aguero sent Cech the wrong way from the resulting penalty. Sterling went down far too easily in my eyes, but it was still clumsy by Monreal to make a challenge like that in the box.
The visitors tried to find a way back into the game and very nearly did soon after - Ederson spilled a shot from Iwobi before Ramsey bundled the ball over the line. But the Welshman was rightly pulled back for a foul on the goalkeeper.
Lacazette reduced the deficit after 65 minutes as Iwobi and Ramsey combined to set up the French striker to power a shot beyond Ederson.
Manchester City were very quickly back on the attack and only a fine save by Cech denied Gabriel Jesus and prevented the hosts from increasing their lead. Cech was called into action again soon after, producing another decent save to deny De Bruyne.
City were not to be denied a third goal, although it did arrive in controversial circumstances. David Silva set up substitute Jesus to score from close range, but in my opinion it should have been ruled out for offside. I think the referee got this call very wrong and had it stayed at 2-1 we may have been able to snatch an unlikely point. Instead, the goal completely knocked any last bit of stuffing out of us and ended any faint hopes of a comeback.
I don't think the referee's call was to blame for the defeat though as we were simply second best on the day and didn't test Ederson nearly enough in the City goal. If Lacazette and Wilshere had both been on from the start things maybe could have been different, but we'll never know and the manner of the defeat remains very disappointing.
We gave the ball away far too easily at times and instead of then tracking back some players appeared lazy and sluggish and didn't do enough to even attempt to win it back. This is why the defeat felt all the more frustrating and, although I concede City are overall the much better side, we could have given ourselves more of a chance if we'd approached the game differently.
OPPOSITION VIEW
Manchester City fan Joseph Barnes was critical of Arsenal following his side's home victory.
"I think Wenger came to get beat," said Barnes. "He should have started Lacazette! It was nothing exceptional from us and we didn't need to get out of third gear to beat a poor and uninspiring Arsenal side.
"City's signing of the summer was Ederson and gives us the confidence to play under pressure even if he did have a wobble when Ramsey tried to Nat Lofthouse him into the net! Who's going to stop us now?"
MY FINAL THOUGHTS
Wrong team selection and approach to the game, along with a frustrating refereeing decision, ultimately cost us against Manchester City.
When you are playing a team of City's calibre you have to dig deep and produce an excellent performance, but instead we made it far too easy for them and, if you are going to gift City the ball as many times as we did, it was inevitable we would be punished.
With the intentional break coming up our manager and players really need to take a good long hard look at themselves. Being down in sixth as early as November is simply not good enough and things need to change.
Facing Manchester City was always going to be tough and, in fact, had we lost, but played really well I could have accepted the result and put it down to being unlucky on the day. But that wasn't the case and we simply weren't up to the challenge on the day and that is why the result is harder to take.
Our next match is back at home at least, but it is a very difficult challenge as we host our bitter rivals Tottenham. This match is about a whole lot more than three points. It is about proving a point to Tottenham and getting one over on them. We simply can't give them the bragging rights or we'll never hear the end of it. The balance of power is continuing to shift in North London and I don't like it one bit, so we need to go and prove to them that despite our poor start to the season this is our derby to win!
We need to get our season back on track and the manager and players should have no problems getting motivated for this fixture. It is a game we simply have to win, but whether we will or not is another matter! Let's hope we can bounce back with one hell of a huge performance!
COME ON YOU GUNNERS
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