Arsenal beat Man City in PL for first time since 2015

Substitute Gabriel Martinelli fired a last-gasp winner to earn Arsenal a 1-0 victory over Manchester City yesterday, a result that moved Mikel Arteta’s side level on points with North London rivals Tottenham Hotspur at the top of the Premier League.
Arsenal came into the match having not beaten City in the league since 2015, a run of 15 games – their longest winless streak against a single opponent in league history.
Ending such a barren run looked unlikely as City had the better of the chances in the first half, with Arsenal’s Declan Rice clearing off the line to keep the champions at bay.
Arsenal did not have a single shot on target in the opening period, but upped the tempo after the break, even though City still created the better openings despite their Premier League top scorer Erling Haaland being kept quiet all afternoon.
The game appeared to be edging towards a stalemate before Martinelli struck four minutes from time, a deflection off City defender Nathan Ake taking the ball past keeper Ederson.
The goal sparked wild celebrations at the Emirates, as Arsenal moved above City into second place on 20 points, two above the champions, and trailing Spurs only on goals scored.
Arsenal were dealt a huge blow ahead of kickoff as it was confirmed the injured Bukayo Saka would miss a Premier League game for the first time since May 2021, ending a run of 87 consecutive appearances, the longest ongoing run in the competition.
Without the flying forward, Arsenal looked sluggish early on, with Croatian defender Josko Gvardiol denied by Rice’s intervention, while Julian Alvarez almost diverted Arsenal goalkeeper David Raya’s hesitant clearance into the net.
The crowd were doing their best to rouse a response from Arsenal, cheering every flying tackle with gusto and it seemed to help matters, with the hosts growing into the contest.
Promising openings fell flat, however, as Arsenal failed to have a shot on target in the opening half of a Premier League home game for the first time since March 2022. Martinelli’s introduction livened things up, as he soon had the home side’s first effort on target in the match, a fierce strike straight at Ederson.
With the international break to follow, the life seemed to be sucked out of the game before Martinelli broke City hearts.
It was a timely strike, ensuring Arsenal are yet to lose a Premier League game this season, last going on a longer unbeaten run to start a campaign in 2007-08.
Coman double helps Bayern cut gap after Leverkusen go topKingsley Coman’s double helped Bayern Munich stay two points behind Bundesliga leaders Bayer Leverkusen as the reigning champions beat Freiburg 3-0 at home yesterday.
With Leverkusen winning 3-0 against Cologne to go five points clear of the Bavarians just moments before kick-off, Bayern responded immediately and were 2-0 up at half-time.
Coman looped a cross goalwards looking for Harry Kane in the 12th minute but the ball drifted over Freiburg goalkeeper Noah Atubolu and into the goal.
Leroy Sane scored Bayern’s second 25 minutes in, playing a pass to Kane on the left and slamming the England captain’s return ball into the net.
The duo are building an impressive partnership, with five of Sane’s seven goals this season assisted by the former Tottenham striker.
The former Manchester City winger had the ball in the net again on the stroke of half-time, lifting a dipping shot over Atubolu, but the stunning strike was chalked off by VAR for offside.
Coman scored again with five minutes remaining and once more had a slice of luck, his shot taking a big deflection to evade the outstretched arms of Atubolu.
Bayern will head into the international break in third, while Freiburg – who narrowly missed out on the top four last season – sit in midtable, with 10 points after seven matches.
Earlier yesterday, Xabi Alonso’s Leverkusen continued their unbeaten start to the season with a comfortable win over derby rivals Cologne.
Leverkusen were superb in attack, goals from Jonas Hofmann, Jeremie Frimpong and Victor Boniface taking the side to a dominant victory against their struggling opponents. Leverkusen have now won nine of their 10 matches in all competitions this season, only dropping points in a pulsating 2-2 draw at Bayern.
Griezmann’s late penalty earns Atletico 2-1 win
Antoine Griezmann scored a late penalty to give Atletico Madrid a 2-1 LaLiga home win over Real Sociedad yesterday, in a match in which VAR was again under the spotlight following two contentious handball decisions.
The hosts dominated from the start and Samuel Lino opened the scoring in the 22nd minute with a tidy finish between the goalkeeper and the near post after beating the offside trap following a brilliant long pass by Koke.
Atletico missed several chances, including two strikes off the post, one by Rodrigo de Paul and Axel Witsel from point-blank range, but Sociedad slowly started to take control of the match and almost scored when Mikel Oyarzabal’s shot hit Jan Oblak’s left upright.
In the 67th minute, referee Munuera Montero spent several minutes in a lengthy VAR check for a possible handball inside the box, but decided there had been no infringement.