Blues beaten, but Guardiola has no need to panic!

IGNORE THE CRITICS, TREBLE-WINNING CITY AREN'T ON THE SLIDE

- SIMON BAJKOWSKI

MIKEL Arteta finally got over on his old boss on Sunday as Arsenal ended a 12-game losing run against City in the Premier League by beating them 1-0.

Gabriel Martinelli got the late goal to send the Emirates wild and propel last year's runners-up above the champions with just 30 games to go! It was a terrific victory for Arsenal and they can take confidence from the fact they now know they can beat their rivals in the league.

Naturally, there was some focus on City's shortcomings amid some eye-catching statistics. The four shots at goal were the lowest a Pep Guardiola team has had since Barcelona in 2010, and this is the first time the Blues have had back-to-back league defeats since 2018.

However, there wasn't enough between the teams for City to feel like Arsenal had given them a lesson and there hasn't been enough in the last four games to spark serious alarm at the Etihad Campus.

Defeat going into the international break is never good, but the Blues boss can happily ignore some of the over-reactions to the game...

GUARDIOLA SCHOOLED BY ARTETA?

THE Arsenal boss made four substitutions in the second half and all four combined for the winning goal, which is about as good as it gets for a manager. Even ignoring the - coach's surprise at Takehiro Tomi- yasu popping up so far away from his full-back position, the most important participant in the goal was Nathan Ake.

Martinelli's shot had an xG of 0.04, meaning it is scored four out of every 100 times - or one in every 25.

There hasn't been a conclusive replay to know whether it was even on target before the wicked deflection off the City defender and past a helpless Ederson, but the Blues would have no problem with their opponents in any match being reduced to 6 shots from outside the box.