UK Edition
Manchester City vs Arsenal player ratings: Who stood out and who went missing at the Etihad Stadium?
Manchester City
Ederson
Virtual spectator until a fine save from Ramsey just before the break then almost guilty of a fumble from a long Iwobi shot. 6/10
Kyle Walker
His pace at right-back is one of the big reasons for City’s form and his link-up play with the forwards troubled Arsenal. 7/10
Nicolas Otamendi
One of Guardiola’s greatest achievements is the improvement in the defender’s form and this was another solid outing. 7/10
John Stones
One of his more challenging recent games and the England man stepped up with some strong tackling and good reading of the game. 7/10
Fabian Delph
Hard to remember he is playing out of position, at left-back, with his tackling and speed perfectly suited to the Guardiola system. 7/10
Fernandinho
Couple of uncharacteristic early errors gifted possession but soon settled into his normal steady form mopping up in front of the back four. 6/10
Raheem Sterling
Mis-timed a run that might have seen him convert a Sane cross then wasted a two-on-one break with a shocking pass. Won a penalty to make amends however. 6/10
Kevin De Bruyne
The man of the moment and showed why, first forcing Cech into a fine save before scoring the opener. A threat in almost every attack. 9/10
David Silva
Age is not slowing the veteran Spaniard and this was another under-stated but influential performance, summed up by his cross for the killer third goal. 8/10
Leroy Sane
Pace and energy down the left was key to the win and a devastating weapon to have on the counter-attack. 7/10
Sergio Aguero
Preferred to Jesus for the start but missed a glorious chance inside the opening minute only to make up for it with a coolly-taken penalty. 6/10
Substitutes: Jesus for Aguero 61 mins; Gundogan for Sterling 77 mins; B Silva for Sane 86 mins: Another goal for Aguero meant Guardiola could bring him off and start the serious business of deciding whether he or Jesus is his first-choice front man, with the Brazilian answering with a goal of his own. 7/10
Arsenal
Petr Cech
Saved tidily from De Bruyne just before the opener, which gave him no real chance, and made a breathtaking block from Jesus to keep Arsenal in it. 8/10
Hector Bellerin
Right wing-back duties were always going to be more defensive-orientated as he tried to cope with Sane but still probed forward occasionally. 6/10
Laurent Koscielny
Made one important challenge to deny Aguero a goal and coped as well as could be expected with City’s intense movement and pace on and off the ball. 7/10
Francis Coquelin
Was thrown into the three-man defence, with zero league starts and just 76 minutes of league action this season, but the midfielder’s contribution was decent. 6/10
Nacho Monreal
Harshly judged to have brought down Sterling for the penalty early in the second half although he was naive to be caught out of position. 5/10
Sead Kolasinac
Big defender’s work rate could not be faulted although struggled to cope with Sterling and De Bruyne on his wing. 5/10
Mesut Ozil
Started promisingly but faded. Not his sort of game as Arsenal did not have enough possession to get him involved. 5/10
Aaron Ramsey
Denied by Ederson with Arsenal’s best first half chance but came back to claim the assist for the Lacazette goal. 7/10
Granit Xhaka
Reacted angrily to being replaced after 78 minutes although his anger was aimed as much at the fourth official as his manager. 5/10
Alex Iwobi
Hard-running performance with contributions at both ends of the field and a hand in the Lacazette goal that breathed hope into Arsenal. 7/10
Alexis Sanchez
“Auditioning” for the club that wants him in January and after a lively start, hardly covered himself in glory with some sloppy passing and bad body language. 5/10
Substitutes: Lacazette for Coquelin 56 mins; Wilshere for Iwobi 78 mins; Giroud for Xhaka 78 mins: Coquelin was sacrificed as Wenger went chasing the game after City’s second and it proved a master-stroke as he scored within eight minutes although, ultimately, it had no impact on the result. 7/10