Arsenal 0-2 Manchester City: Player Ratings
Manchester City began their title defence with an impressive victory against the new-look Arsenal. Unai Emery's first Premier League match couldn't have been much tougher as his side faced a ruthless City side who dominated in every aspect of the game. Despite Manchester City's brilliance, Arsenal created some opportunities, but those weren't enough to deny the champions their three points.
Raheem Sterling opened the scoring by dancing past two Arsenal defenders before unleashing a thunderous shot that flew past Petr Cech. The scoreline remained the same until Bernardo Silva's exquisite finish in the second half from Mendy's pass, which sealed the game for Citizens.
Let us look at how each team's players fared in the match.
Arsenal:
Petr Cech
He made a couple of great saves in the first half and produced an incredible one-on-one save against Sergio Aguero's shot in the second half.
Besides that his passing was horrendous, he almost scored into his own goal and also reacted late to Sterling's goal.
Rating - 6
Hector Bellerin
He failed to deal with Benjamin Mendy who was the creator of both the goals, had a good chance to level the game in the first half but hit straight to Ederson who saved it without any trouble.
Rating - 5
Shkodran Mustafi
He handled Aguero well but lacked pace at times and also left too much space in front for Sterling's goal, who easily placed his shot away from the defence.
Rating - 5.5
Sokratis Papastathopoulos
Manchester City almost scored from a free kick that resulted because of a tactical foul committed by Sokratis. Besides that, he made some good tackles and looked fine.
Rating - 6
Ainsley Maitland-Niles
He got a daunting task to control Riyad Mahrez and Kyle Walker, the youngster was forced to be substituted in the first half due to injury while stopping Kyle Walker's bursting run.
Rating - 5
Matteo Guendouzi
He looked promising and although he made some errors while passing, his willingness to go forward and make himself available during difficult positions for teammates impressed the fans a lot.
Rating - 7
Granit Xhaka
Went missing completely out powered by the City's midfield, booked for a poor challenge in the second half and eventually made way for Torreira later on.
Rating - 4.5
Mesut Ozil
A disappointing performance for his standards failed to find the players in the attacking third constantly, looked nowhere near his usual best.
Rating - 5
Aaron Ramsey
He [layed a little further up the pitch than expected. Ramsey attacked the opponents and created space between the defenders; he was impressive in the game but earned very little help from his teammates.
Rating - 6.5
Henrikh Mkhitaryan
The Armenian had done little and it was not his day. He had a couple of opportunities but delayed his shots and that was enough for the City's defence to clear away the danger.
Rating - 5
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
He almost scored a goal but disallowed due to offside, and also did not get the service needed to deliver for his team.
Rating - 6
Substitute
Stephan Lichtsteiner (for Maitland-Niles 35)
He did well in an unfamiliar position due to injury for Maitland-Niles but was one of the players responsible for Silva's goal.
Rating - 6
Alexandre Lacazette (for Ramsey 54)
He almost scored from the moment he entered into the pitch, but could not get his team a point.
.Rating - 6
Lucas Torreira (for Xhaka 70)
The game had almost has gone away from Arsenal's hands when he was introduced but he managed to show glimpses of his talent.
Rating - 6