Manchester City edge Arsenal in FA Cup fourth round tie
Nathan Ake scored the only goal of the game as Manchester City edged past Arsenal 1-0 in a closely-fought FA Cup fourth-round battle at the Etihad Stadium.
In a clash between the two best performing sides in the Premier League this season, Ake’s calm finish just after the hour mark booked City’s place in the fifth round and denied the Gunners – who gave the English champions a few scares – a record-extending 15th FA Cup crown.
While Pep Guardiola held off on making a multitude of changes, Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta made no fewer than six alterations for his Etihad reunion, including a first start for Leandro Trossard.
During the Gunners’ several forays forward in the first half, most of their attacks came through the Belgian, who was a real livewire on the left and forced a good save out of Stefan Ortega in the 21st minute.
Prior to keeping out Trossard’s effort, Ortega had to be alert to beat away Takehiro Tomiyasu’s venomous half-volley with only five minutes gone, as Arsenal enjoyed the better chances when not containing the hosts and their periods of plentiful possession..
Being closely marshalled by Rob Holding – sometimes successfully, sometimes unsuccessfully – Erling Braut Haaland saw little goalmouth action in the first half, but Kevin De Bruyne was inches away from giving Man City the lead in the 25th minute, with his left-footed curler from outside the box going just wide of Matt Turner’s far post.
Both teams were dealt differing defensive blows near the end of the first half, with Holding nibbling at Haaland a bit too closely and picking up a yellow card, while John Stones pulled up with an apparent hamstring injury and was replaced by Aymeric Laporte just before the break.
Arteta was tempted into a centre-back alteration of his own following Holding’s caution, as William Saliba came on at half time alongside Albert Sambi Lokonga, who replaced Thomas Partey after the Ghanaian was seen holding his ribs in the first half.
Those in sky blue were doing most of the attacking early in the second 45, although Fabio Vieira should have done much better with a 59th-minute volley, as the ball fell kindly for the Portuguese playmaker in space before he sliced his effort wide.
Losing midfield general Partey would eventually come back to bite Arsenal, as Julian Alvarez’s long-range effort struck the post in the 64th minute, but Jack Grealish kept the ball alive on the left and laid off Ake, who coolly found the far corner.
After calling upon the cavalry in Martin Odegaard, Gabriel Martinelli and Oleksandr Zinchenko, Arsenal responded well to City’s opener, albeit without the desired equaliser as Guardiola’s side began to dominate the ball again.
The hosts comfortably saw out four minutes of injury time to progress to round five and now prepare to travel to Tottenham Hotspur next Sunday, while Arsenal make the journey to Everton on February 4.
