Carabao Cup Quarter-Final

ARSENAL 1 (Lacazette 31)
MANCHESTER CITY 4 (Jesus 3, Mahrez 54, Foden 59, Laporte 73)

AT this festive time of year a defeat in a cup competition against big-spenders Manchester City could easily be brushed off.

The apt timing of a player named Gabriel Jesus scoring against Arsenal in their final game before Christmas could even spark a bit of a giggle, in the same way, perhaps, as a joke that you would find in a Christmas cracker.

However, when the defeat leaves a club still searching for their first domestic win since beating Manchester United at Old Trafford on November 1, there is little to laugh about, and the time for brushing off bad results is well and truly over.

In the build-up to this Carabao Cup quarter-final clash against City tonight (Tuesday), Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta spoke of in-house statistics that proved his side have been victims of misfortune this season.

After a 4-1 thrashing at the Emirates Stadium the only stats that really matter were painstakingly obvious: six defeats and two draws in their last eight games, excluding Europa League outings against substandard opposition.

Even Arteta had to acknowledge that the drubbing dished out by his old mentor Pep Guardiola was one defeat too many, and has surely left him on borrowed time.

“We have to turn it around, if we don’t we are in big trouble,” admitted the Spaniard. “There is no question the fixtures we have coming up are going to decide our season.”

The Gunners made a nightmare start against City, falling behind within three minutes of the kick off. Oleksandr Zinchenko delivered a dangerous cross that was met by the unmarked Jesus, who headed home from six-yards.

With three not-so-wise Arsenal defenders watching on as Jesus casually found the back of the net, it became clear early on that it was going to be a long night for the home side.

But then a Christmas miracle arrived just after the half-hour mark. Against the run of play Gabriel Martinelli swung in a teasing ball from the left, and Alexandre Lacazette pounced to nod beyond Zack Steffen and into the top corner.

City looked destined to edge back in front just before the break when the ball broke kindly for Jesus 10-yards out, but Alex Runarsson made himself big to deny the Brazilian striker his second goal of the evening.

City didn’t have to wait too long to restore their lead, however. Less than 10 minutes after the restart Riyad Mahrez tricked Gabriel into a clumsy challenge on the edge of the box.

The Algerian winger picked himself up to take the resulting free-kick, sending in a powerful shot that proved too hot to handle for Runarsson. The Gunners goalie let the shot squirm through his gloves to gift City the advantage.

In the blink of an eye the game was over. Fernandinho released Phil Foden, who deftly dinked a shot over the onrushing Runarsson.

Had VAR been in operation in this competition the goal would have been ruled out for offside – perhaps a little sign of the misfortune Arteta has been so desperate to shine a light on.

Aymeric Laporte wrapped up the City win following a well-worked short corner, rising unmarked to get his head on Foden’s in-swinging cross.

“After one or two minutes we conceded a really soft goal, against this level of opponent they penalise you and make it very difficult,” reasoned Arteta after the game.

“At 1-1 we have a great counter-attack moment but they then score in an offside position and you end up losing the game again.

“It’s a hard one to take considering how the game went. This level of opponent, when you give the goals away it makes the game impossible.

“A lot of strange things are happening in every game and that makes things really difficult.”

Arsenal: Runarsson, Mustafi, Gabriel, Kolasinac, Maitland-Niles, Elneny (Smith Rowe, 66), Ceballos, Cedric, Willock, Lacazette (Balogun, 77), Martinelli (Pepe, 49)
Substitutes not used: Leno, Tierney, Mari, Nketiah

Manchester City: Steffen, Cancelo, Dias, Laporte, Zinchenko, Rodri (Walker, 77), Fernandinho, Bernardo Silva (Torres, 70), Mahrez, Foden, Jesus (Aguero, 74)
Substitutes not used: Ederson, Stones, Sterling, Gundogan