#3 David Silva goes off injured
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In the 23rd minute, Manchester City lost the soul and heartbeat of their attacking play as David Silva hobbled off with a hamstring problem. The little magician has been pivotal to Pep’s implementation of tiki-taka at the Etihad. David Silva has created 74 goalscoring chances this season, more than anyone else in his team.
Once the Spaniard went off, City’s early dominance and attacking incisiveness went with him.
He’s the conductor of everything good City produces and once he was subbed off, all creative duties were laid upon the shoulders of Kevin De Bruyne. As good as the German is, he’s not a player good at breaking down low-blocks, he’s better on the transition.
In fact, David Silva is better in both departments. Who’s to know whether City could have penetrated Arsenal’s back three if the playmaker had played the whole 120 minutes.
