Nathan Ake was Manchester City’s unlikely hero as he snatched a 1-0 win for Pep Guardiola’s side against Premier League leaders Arsenal in the fourth round of the FA Cup.
Mikel Arteta’s Gunners, who are five points clear of champions City at the Premier League summit with a game in hand, made six changes to the side that beat Manchester United 3-2 last weekend, but Takehiro Tomiyasu and full-debutant Leandro Trossard each drew fine saves from City ‘keeper Stefan Ortega in the home goal before halftime.
Kevin De Bruyne curled a sumptuous 25-yard strike just wide, but the clearest chance of the opening 45 minutes fell Arsenal’s way when Eddie Nketiah volleyed wide from Trossard’s cross at the near post.
City made the visitors pay for that wastefulness via an unlikely source, with left-sided defender Ake rolling home a right-footed finish from Jack Grealish’s pass after substitute Julian Alvarez drilled a shot against the post.Trossard was the pick of the Arsenal attack as Ake went about his primary job of shackling the in-form Bukayo Saka impressively. In the sixth minute, the Belgium international cut a ball across the City box that Tomiyasu hammered goalwards to draw a superb save from Ortega.
The Arsenal left winger then went it alone to again find City’s cup goalkeeper up to the challenge, handing 18-year-old Rico Lewis the toughest night of his fledgling professional career to date.
De Bruyne going close to the spectacular merely served to underline how peripheral he’d been, certainly in comparison to his effervescent compatriot Trossard, who should have had an assist to his name when Nketiah erred.
It fell to Ake to show the sort of composure that deserted the forwards on display, including Erling Haaland, who endured a frustrating evening. Grealish expertly kept the ball alive after Alvarez struck the upright, drawing Tomiyasu and Saka towards him and opening up the pass for Ake to finish with unexpected nonchalance.
Arsenal pressed hard to force the replay that neither manager could really have wanted, with substitute Gabriel Martinelli a livewire presence who forced Ortega to stay sharp until the last. Despite finishing up on the wrong end of the scoreline, Arsenal showed City they will not be going anywhere in this season’s title race. A much-changed team had the better of the first half against what was, more or less, Guardiola’s first–choice outfield XI at this moment in time. The Gunners’ character was again on display in the way they responded to Ake’s goal. A narrow defeat, with pride intact and the capacity to focus all energies on the Premier League charge (sorry, Europa League) feels like a pretty good outcome for Mikel Arteta.
