Manchester City Defeat Arsenal with Ease 3-0 in Premier League

Manchester City restored their 16-point lead atop the Premier League after thrashing Arsenal for the second time in a week, winning 3-0 at the Emirates Stadium on Thursday night.

Bernardo Silva, David Silva and Leroy Sane were all on the scoresheet, as City built a three-goal lead at the break against the side they beat by the same scoreline in Sunday's Carabao Cup final at Wembley Stadium.

Arsenal's best chance was wasted when Ederson saved Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's penalty in the second half.

BBC 5 live Sport provided the team news:

Arsenal reverted to a back four and started brightly, needing to produce a performance after their limp display at Wembley. The Gunners pressed high, with Danny Welbeck and Aaron Ramsey leading the way.

However, Henrikh Mkhitaryan wasted a terrific chance when he shot straight at Ederson. It was a miss the Gunners would rue when Bernardo Silva put the league leaders in front on 15 minutes.

Impressive work from the lively Leroy Sane helped pick out the Portuguese schemer, who made no mistake with his finish. Supplying goals has become a habit for Sane during his second season with the Citizens, per OptaJoe:

City had doubled their lead 13 minutes later, when David Silva swept a shot past Petr Cech—after more excellent work from Sane, who combined brilliantly with Sergio Aguero in the build-up. Already, the atmosphere inside the Emirates Stadium was turning against the struggling hosts.

Things got worse on 33 minutes, when Sane made it three. The Germany international forward ghosted in ahead of Arsenal right-back Hector Bellerin to cap a swift and stunning break.

Henry Winter of The Times summed up the contrasting mood of each team's fans:

Meanwhile, Squawka Football applauded City's ruthless streak:

Arsenal should have reduced the deficit on 52 minutes when Mkhitaryan won a penalty after Nicolas Otamendi brought him down on the box, already on a yellow card. Club-record signing Aubameyang saw his penalty rebuffed by Ederson.

The striker missed another excellent chance moments later when he sliced a shot wide from a promising position. Aubameyang's nervy finishing summed up Arsenal's jaded display.

City substituted Aguero for Yaya Toure and David Silva for Gabriel Jesus, just back from injury, as they sauntered through the closing stages.

Home supporters left the stadium in droves as the final five minutes approached on a night blighted as much by miserable weather as the Gunners' struggles.

GLYN KIRK/Getty Images

At least City had warmed the night with the quality of their football. Lethal on the counter, ruthless in the final third and never short of energy and ideas, the Citizens will be worthy champions.

Afterwards, manager Arsene Wenger defended his team's effort but bemoaned the defending, per Metro's Simon Rice: "The goals were preventable. I don’t think we can take away from the individual quality of the goals but it was soft defending on our side."

Wenger also described the Gunners' defensive efforts as "weak."

He also had some choice words regarding Aubameyang's penalty miss:

"After half-time we needed the penalty to go in to have a slight change to come back so that was a blow to us."

"I feel we put a lot of effort in tonight. We played with low confidence, you could see that at the start of the game and we paid for it."

"We needed the penalty to go in, but that was another negative. We lost to a team that is the best in the country at the moment."

The end days of Wenger's generally glorious reign seem set to make for painful viewing unless the manager can somehow raise his squad to up their game for the UEFA Europa League.