EPL Preview: Rattled Arsenal face Manchester City mettle test

“He has told me to be direct, to be the player he knows I want to be”, Sterling said.

They needn’t have anxious, however, as the excellent Leroy Sane latched on to David Silva’s through ball to equalise with just two minutes of the second half played.

The early auguries seemed to indicate that City were looking to exploit Arsenal’s left-back position in the case of Nacho Monreal. “I think the position that he is in now, as a striker, is flawless for him, it suits him perfectly”. The referees are protected in what is like the lions in the zoo so we have to live with that. The speedy German was marginally offside as replays confirmed but the goal stood and Arsenal were rocking.

Pep Guardiola made clear on Friday his belief Chilean goalkeeper Claudio Bravo is happy at Manchester City, amid reports the goalkeeper could be on his way back to Spain.

Raheem Sterling struck a 71st-minute victor, but Wenger felt Silva’s attempt to play the ball in front of goalkeeper Petr Cech should have seen the goal ruled out.

“In terms of results, Arsene won titles – we can not forget that”.

Wenger said after the game that Arsenal’s mentality was still strong, but Sky TV pundit Gary Neville was utterly damning in his assessment of their performance.

‘We have to come back next week and win our game. Arsenal were so vulnerable to the pressure of holding the lead that the act of scoring such an early goal was perhaps, counterintuitively, detrimental to their cause.

Gunners manager Arsene Wenger introduced Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Olivier Giroud in search of an equaliser, but City were in full control at this point.

“It’s a game in which we were in control and enough is enough with recent decisions going against us”.

Arsenal finished in second place in the Premier League table last season and 10 points behind defending champions Leicester City.

City’s players walked out wearing shirts bearing the name of teammate Ilkay Gundogan, who is set to miss the rest of the season after sustaining knee ligament damage in Wednesday’s 2-0 win over Watford.

“You have to keep your eye on everyone and can’t think you are ever comfortable where you are in the league”.

“The manager has already quickly said to us that there are things we can improve on”, Lallana said.