Manchester City 3-1 Arsenal: Three reasons why City won

3. City’s defence held firm:

Aymeric Laporte helped keep Arsenal at bay.

City played Kyle Walker and Aymeric Laporte as the right and left centre-backs respectively as the experienced Nicolas Otamendi played at the centre of the defence. Their three-man defence was frequently supported by defensive midfielder Fernandinho, who played as a de-facto centre-back at times. Whenever Fernandinho fell back to support the defence, Walker and Laporte stretched to the wings to adopt a 4-5-1 formation.

Arsenal scored from a corner kick to equalize in the first half, but could not score from open play against a solid City defence. Both Laporte and Walker were phenomenal and did not allow Arsenal forwards Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubemyang to penetrate through the flanks.

The tactical discipline and positional awareness of the City defenders was noteworthy last night, as they kept the Arsenal forwards at bay. City still had defenders like John Stones, Vincent Kompany and Danilo on the bench, and one has to appreciate the sheer depth of their squad.