Premier League 2018-19, Arsenal 0-2 Manchester City: 3 key battles that decided the game

#2 Playing Aaron Ramsey as a false nine vs logic

Why would anyone play Ramsey as a false 9 when there is an actual 9 on the bench?

The Welshman is listed on the team sheet as a No.10, playing behind Aubameyang but as the game progressed, it was obvious what Arsenal's game plan was.

Aubameyang shifted to the right to play as a winger, while Ramsey moved out of position to play as the central forward with Ozil dropping deep to play as the quarterback.

Brilliant, right? NO. While the idea looks clever enough on paper, it crashed and burned when it came to execution.

Ramsey has neither the physicality nor the pace of a conventional forward, and what makes him great in midfield is his wily runs behind the opposition while the forward leads the defenders away from him. See where I am going with this?

In addition to that, Aubameyang was completely wasted as the winger without a target man. Only when Emery returned to his senses and took away Ramsey for Lacazette did Arsenal start to look like a proper team, but Manchester City scored their second immediately after that, and it was too little too late.

Ramsey played incredibly well in the role that was given to him, but it completely nullifies everything else about the team.

When every one of the Arsenal players get ready to start playing, Emery has some major thinking to do - the least of which should be playing his best player on the night out of position.