Manchester City 3 - Arsenal 1: Controversial goal sees leaders fend off Gunners comeback

THE WINS keep coming, the goals keep flowing, the records keep tumbling and even the decisions are now going for Manchester City.

Manchester City continued their impressive winning streak GETTY

Manchester City continued their impressive winning streak

There is just no stopping Pep Guardiola’s free-scoring cavaliers at the moment.

Make no mistake, City deserved their 15th successive win in all competitions – a new top-flight record in English football – while a ninth consecutive League win equalled the club record.

They passed the half-century mark for goals as well which means they have outscored even Guardiola’s Barcelona and Bayern Munich teams at this stage of the season.

But they got some luck as well. Just as Arsenal looked set to threaten their seemingly unstoppable run by pulling the game back to 2-1, a tiring City side enjoyed the sort of fortune that is an essential part of any title bid.

David Silva was offside as he received Fernandinho’s pass but the assistant referee’s flag stayed down and the City playmaker set up substitute Gabriel Jesus for the third goal that ended the Gunners’ hopes.

Mind you, there was no excuse for three of the Arsenal players to commit the cardinal sin of stopping to throw their arms in the air in anticipation of the offside being given. It wasn’t, and the fightback was stopped in its tracks.

The goal only deepened the Gunners’ sense of injustice because Manchester City’s second goal, just after the break, was a ‘soft’ penalty awarded when Raheem Sterling took advantage of Nacho Monreal’s clumsy challenge to spark accusations of “diving” by Arsene Wenger afterwards.

But Monreal made no real attempt to play the ball and should have known better. And City could point to a number of missed chances that would have rendered academic any discussion about debatable refereeing decisions.

The burning question remains: Who is going to stop them? Guardiola is not interested in records though. His analytical mind was already dissecting the significance of the result just minutes after the final whistle.

Last season City’s big failing was their record against the other top-six clubs. They won only two of those 10 games. This season they have won three out of three already, Arsenal’s scalp being added to those of Liverpool and Chelsea.

And what also encouraged Guardiola was City’s mental strength and physical resilience with the win achieved on the back of a demanding midweek Champions League win in Naples when he had played a virtually full strength team.

Arsenal should have been fresher because Wenger had rested all of his major players for their Europa League match against Red Star Belgrade. They made a decent fist of it, but in the end lost to a superior team.

Manchester City vs Arsenal SanchezREUTERS

Alexis Sanchez watches on as Arsenal lose more ground in the title race

Sergio Aguero was given a guard of honour by a pantheon of former City strikers before the game and presented with a silver boot to mark his club goals record but it was Kevin De Bruyne who gave them a deserved 19th-minute lead.

The Belgium international says he takes more enjoyment from assists than scoring but the precision of his low left-foot shot into the far corner after a one-two with Fernandinho underlined he hasn’t lost his eye for goal.

Sterling may have improved his goalscoring this season but Guardiola wants to see improvement with his final pass. And that point was underlined when he was put clean through by De Bruyne but dithered between shooting or passing and then overhit his pass to the unmarked Leroy Sane.

It might have proved costly had not Ederson saved well from Aaron Ramsey just before the break.

But Sterling made amends by winning the penalty that Aguero converted via a post three minutes after the break. City looked home and dry but to their credit the Gunners refused to throw in the towel and when substitute Alexandre Lacazette pulled one back it was game on.

Arsenal were the last team to beat City with Alexis Sanchez’s extra-time goal settling the FA cup semi-final back in April. That game featured a Sterling goal that was wrongly ruled out by an assistant referee’s error. Yesterday the controversial goal from Jesus ended Arsenal's hopes of a repeat victory.

Manchester City reveal lineup for game against Arsenal

City target Sanchez was a largely peripheral figure and the way they are playing raised the question of whether they need him anyway.

MAN CITY (4-3-3): Ederson 7; Walker 7, Stones 8, Otamendi 7, Delph 7; De Bruyne 8, Fernandinho 7, D Silva 7; Sterling 6 (Gundogan 77, 6), Aguero 7 (Jesus 61, 6), Sane 7 (B. Silva 86, 5). Booked: Otamendi. Goals: De Bruyne 19, Aguero 50 pen, Jesus 74. NEXT UP: Leicester (a) Nov 18, PL.

ARSENAL (5-4-1): Cech 6, Bellerin 6, Koscielny 6, Coquelin 7 (Lacazette 56, 7), Monreal 6, Kolasinac 6; Ozil 6, Ramsey 7, Xhaka 6 (Giroud 77, 5), Iwobi 7 (Wilshere 77, 5); Sanchez 6. Booked: Monreal, Lacazette, Koscielny, Xhaka, Sanchez, Ozil. Goal: Lacazette 64. NEXT UP: Tottenham (h) Nov 18, PL.

Referee: M Oliver (Northumberland).

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