While Arsenal had hopes this season of winning a quadruple, and there was much positivity around the club, it was Nico O’Reilly who would thwart that hope, scoring two second-half goals in the span of four minutes to lead Manchester City to the title.
The Gunners came out firing to open up the game, and looked the better team across the first 45 minutes. In the seventh minute, in the span of about five seconds, Kai Havertz would have the initial shot saved by James Trafford, followed by two in quick succession from Bukayo Saka that would also be saved, which would be a bright early start for the Blues.
City would start to pick it up at the end of the first frame, with shot attempts from Jérémy Doku and Erling Haaland, but that would lead to halftime, tied up at 0-0.
That is when the team from Manchester would take control of the game, and a Kepa Arrizabalaga error would lead to their first goal. A cross dinked into the box would go through the hands of the Arsenal goalkeeper, and the City bred Nico O’Reilly would be standing there and alert to the ball before Martín Zubimendi, able to head it in from a yard out. This also came not too long after Arrizabalaga would receive a yellow card with a foul on Doku, as he got it all wrong, coming way out of his box, and misreading the situation, having to foul the Belgian.
A short time later, from the 60th minute to the 64th, it would be O’Reilly again, as a wonderfully played ball by Matheus Nunes would find his head once again in the center of the box, and he would find the right corner. Manchester City would be up 2-0.
The Arsenal would have opportunities late. Riccardo Calafiori would have a free header that would go right into the hands of Trafford, and a short time later would rifle a ball into the box that would barely miss Leandro Trossard’s sliding boot and would end up hitting the post.
Gabriel Jesus would also be introduced, as well as Noni Madueke, and those two would connect for Jesus to head one back across the frame and hit the crossbar, where Viktor Gyökeres wouldn’t be able to clean it up and finish it.
Mikel Arteta and company were hoping to enter the game on Sunday as the start of a brilliant and unprecedented four-trophy run, but that would not be the case. Questions will now arise surrounding the Gunners as to whether they can stay composed, if they are playing too much, will injuries come back to haunt the side, and are they well and truly just running out of gas. This could be scary for the Arsenal fan, as for the past three seasons, the side has been runners-up in the Premier League.
Arsenal still sits nine points clear of City in the race for the league title, with an extra game played. They are also in the FA Cup quarterfinal, where they will travel to face Southampton on April 4th, and in the Champions League quarterfinal, where they will take on Sporting in a two-leg split, the first to be played on April 7th at the Estádio José Alvalade in Lisbon.
