Premier League 2018/19: 3 Reasons why Manchester City beat Arsenal

Manchester City cruised past Arsenal with a 2-0 victory, courtesy of goals from Raheem Sterling and Bernardo Silva to begin their title defence in vehement fashion.

Arsenal, who got the game underway, had the first sight on goal through a feeble Aaron Ramsey strike. Since then, it was all Manchester City in the first-half.

Pep Guardiola's side introduced Unai Emery to the level at the Premier League, by passing the ball around smoothly, exploiting spaces down either wings and controlling the tempo of the game completely.

After a few glimpses of explosive attacking, Sterling picked the ball up wide and cut inside, before passing the ball into the back of the net beautifully to net his 50th Premier League goal.

Chances continued to come by as Mahrez saw his free-kick saved by Petr Cech, who then denied Laporte off the rebound to accomplish a fantastic double save.

Compared to the first 45, the second-half started at a pedestrian pace, with City enjoying plenty of possession but not quite showing the same attacking intent. The new Arsenal boss then switched Ramsey with Lacazette, who sparked some life into proceedings as he linked up with Aubameyang well and shot a volley just wide of Ederson.

Guendouzi then failed to control a back pass, which set Aguero free on goal. Although Petr Cech kept the Gunners in the game yet again by denying the forward, Bernardo Silva stepped up emphatically to double City's lead.

From then, it was a mammoth task for the North London side. Ederson misplaced a couple of passes in the dying stages of the game but the opposition didn't capitalize.

Here are three reasons why Manchester City outclassed Arsenal.

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#3 Sterling and Mahrez set the tone

Mahrez ran riot down the right

Right from the outset, the 'Cityzens' were on the driver's seat. Their wingers were allowed to have lots of time on the ball, which pushed the Arsenal back line deeper and deeper.

Mahrez picked up the ball in advanced positions and ran at Maitland-Niles and Lichtsteiner continuously, often beating them for pace and cutting inside with ease. On the other side, Sterling burst into life by accelerating at the right moments, keeping the ball close to his feet and using his quick movements to wriggle past defenders.

For the goal too, he picked up the ball, took on two players whilst drifting infield, and eventually beat them both to get his shot away.

Both of them together stretched the opposition defence further wide, helping the midfielders and the full-backs to run forward with license.

#2 Manchester City completely exploit the right flank

Too much pace to handle!

When a learned footballing mind would know that Ainsley Maitland-Niles at left back is up against a fresh Riyad Mahrez and the pacy Kyle Walker, they'd probably predict the Arsenal left-back is going to be in for a long afternoon.

The former Spurs right-back charged down the pitch more often than not, offered support for Mahrez and drew the opponent's full back further away in order to create large spaces for Guardiola's new boy.

Moreover, it was his burgeoning desire to make those 40-50 yard runs from defence, which subsequently created a sense of confusion and disorganization in the Arsenal back line.

Mahrez on the other hand, linked up beautifully with Walker, injected urgency and sharpness into the attack and significantly tested Cech.

Although Lichtsteiner applied himself better and nullified potential openings, Mahrez's inventive genius and outburst of pace proved to have a telling effect on the end result.

#1 Aguero and company press down Arsenal ruthlessly

High-press system choked Arsenal

One of Emery's tactics was to play the ball out of the back with the main aim of maintaining possession and time on the ball. Most certainly, the Gunners don't quite have the best ball-playing center-backs or goalkeeper.

Petr Cech might have made the most outstanding saves in this fixture but he looked very shaky in possession, often running out of ideas. The back line, consisting of names such as Sokratis, Hector Bellerin and Stephan Lichtsteiner couldn't quite match the pace of City's front men, who tirelessly shut down passing lanes higher up the pitch.

Also to mention, Xhaka was horrible in terms of positions, as he never really dropped deep at the right places to ask for a pass. Whenever he did operate in midfield, the Swiss gave away possession cheaply.

This failed approach of playing short passes at the back meant that Mustafi and co. were inviting pressure, which was the main reason for their lack of possession and rhythm.