Arsenal 1-0 Man City: Player ratings as late Martinelli goal earns famous win for Gunners

A late Gabriel Martinelli goal earned Mikel Arteta his first-ever Premier League win over Manchester City as Arsenal manager on Sunday.

The victory sees Arsenal move level on points with north London rivals Tottenham Hotspur atop of the Premier League table and condemns Man City to their first set of back-to-back top-flight defeats since 2018.

How the game unfolded

Manchester City hit the ground running at the Emirates Stadium, coming within a whisker of opening the scoring inside the opening five minutes.

The first chance would fall to Josko Gvardiol, who was able to jostle free of the clutches of Martin Odegaard at a corner kick to volley the ball over the top of David Raya - however, Declan Rice was on hand on the line to clear the ball before it nestled in the back of the net. Seconds later the ball was floated into the path of another City defender, Nathan Ake, inside the box. After controlling well, Ake subsequently rifled an effort over the crossbar when he, in truth, really should've scored.

Arsenal's insistence on playing the ball out from the back threatened to cause the home side problems early on, with Raya's lackadaisical attitude in possession almost costing his side a goal in the 15th minute. The new Arsenal starting goalkeeper saw a lazy pass from the edge of his own six-yard box blocked by Julian Alvarez, seeing the ball hit the side-netting as a result.

While there wasn't too much in the way of goalmouth action thereafter in the first half, two reckless challenges from Mateo Kovacic provided enough talking points for fans during half-time. The midfielder was very lucky to not receive a straight red card for a sliding tackle from behind which caught Martin Odegaard above the ankle, escaping with a booking.

Kovacic was then very, very, very lucky not to receive another yellow card just a few minutes later when he dived recklessly into another sliding tackle on Declan Rice, clipping the England international's heel after the ball had already gone.

Having created precisely nothing in the first half, Arsenal were sparked into life in the offensive third thanks to the half-time introduction of Gabriel Martinelli on the left flank. Martinelli would muster the Gunners' first shot on target of the game in the 50th minute - albeit a shot that was comfortably gathered by Ederson.

In the 86th minute, that sub would pay dividends for Mikel Arteta's side. The Brazilian, on his return from injury, proved to be the difference between the two sides on the day thanks to his side-footed effort from just outside of the penalty area deflecting off of Ake and into the bottom left-hand corner of the net.

Arsenal player ratings (4-3-3)

GK: David Raya - 4/10 - Extremely shaky on the ball.

RB: Ben White - 7/10 - Defended well throughout and was one of Arsenal's better players with the ball at his feet.

CB: William Saliba - 7/10 - Marked Haaland out of the game. Craig Dawson-esque showing from Saliba (which is a good thing).

CB: Gabriel Magalhaes - 6/10 - A solid outing.

LB: Oleksandr Zinchenko - 7/10 - Impressed defensively, making six ball recoveries during his time on the pitch.

CM: Martin Odegaard - 7/10 - An industrious performance from the Arsenal captain.

CM: Jorginho - 6/10 - Booked as per. Used the ball quite well when receiving it from the defence.

CM: Declan Rice - 8/10 - Arsenal's best midfielder on the day. Completed over 90% of his passes, made three interceptions, won four duals and generally just did a lot right on the day.

RW: Gabriel Jesus - 5/10 - A few decent touches but ultimately didn't provide Arsenal with a cutting edge.

ST: Eddie Nketiah - 5/10 - The England international was very quiet up top, largely because Arsenal didn't create any chances for him.

LW: Leandro Trossard - 4/10 - He wasn't effective and was replaced at half-time as a result.

Substitutes

SUB: Gabriel Martinelli (45' for Trossard) - 8/10 - The best player on the pitch when introduced. It was fitting that he scored the winner.

SUB: Takehiro Tomiyasu (75' for Zinchenko) - 6/10

SUB: Kai Havertz (75' for Nketiah) - 7/10 - Bagged an assist for the winning goal.

Manager - Mikel Arteta - 7/10 - Martinelli's introduction was a masterstroke at half-time that ultimately won Arsenal the game.

Man City player ratings (4-2-3-1)

GK: Ederson - 5/10 - Had basically nothing to do bar pick the ball out of his net.

RB: Kyle Walker - 6/10 - Another impressive outing from the veteran.

CB: Ruben Dias - 4/10 - Misplaced a few too many passes on the day.

CB: Nathan Ake - 5/10 - Probably should've opened the scoring in the fifth minute. The ball deflected off him for the Arsenal goal.

LB: Josko Gvardiol - 6/10 - Almost scored early in the game. Defended well at the other end of the park.

CM: Rico Lewis - 6/10 - A busy outing in the middle of the park. The youngster held his own.

CM: Mateo Kovacic - 3/10 - Remarkably wasn't sent off for utterly daft challenges in the first half.

RM: Bernardo Silva - 4/10 - A very quiet outing.

AM: Julian Alvarez - 6/10 - Caused havoc with his incessant pressing in the first half in particular. Perhaps subbed off too early by Guardiola.

LM: Phil Foden - 4/10 - Basically did nothing of note.

ST: Erling Haaland - 3/10 - Fairly non-existent on Sunday. Failed to muster a single shot on goal.

Substitutes

SUB: Jeremy Doku (68' for Alvarez) - 6/10 - Added some pace to the City attack.

SUB: John Stones (68' for Lewis) - 5/10 - Couldn't quite get up to speed with the game after an injury lay-off.

SUB: Matheus Nunes (68' for Kovacic) - 5/10 - He didn't get his foot on the ball.

Manager - Pep Guardiola - 5/10 - Man City lacked any sort of cutting edge on Sunday, and can largely be attributed to the lack of pace in the starting lineup.

Player of the match: Gabriel Martinelli (Arsenal)

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