It had been a decade to the day since Arsenal last went to Manchester and were humiliated, although that moment of history did not appear to prepare them for what was about to happen in their most recent trip north.
Indeed, Manchester City awaited the Gunners this time around but the Londoners simply were not ready for them as Pep Guardiola’s team continued their assault for the Premier League title as they aim to keep ahold of their current crown. They are the favourites for many bettors, who are able to get the best odds from sites that are available on sportskokladenje24.com.
Mikel Arteta’s return to the Etihad Stadium over the past weekend was one to forget and rather sour as he saw his lacklustre side be completely outplayed and decimated 5-0 by their opponents. Of course, Granit Xhaka’s red card did not help, but many would suggest they were never in the game to begin with, especially as their defence was rather poor.
Thankfully for those involved, none of them were involved in the humiliation that had happened 10 years ago, this time at Old Trafford, although Arteta was almost a part of it as he had been signed just shortly after it took place.
Their 8-2 defeat to Manchester United occurred on 28 August 2011 and was perhaps the start of the decline that the Gunners have experienced ever since.
Arsene Wenger was still in charge of the club, but to be fair to the legendary manager, the team he chose was largely a second-string lineup as he had a number of players made unavailable due to suspensions picked up for red cards obtained in the opening fixtures of the campaign, as well as injuries to key players.
His matchday squad consisted of Wojciech Szczesny, Carl Jenkinson, Johan Djourou, Laurent Koscielny, Armand Traore, Aaron Ramsey, Francis Coquelin, Tomas Roskicy, Theo Walcott, Robin van Persie (c) & Andrey Arshavin. The substitutes were Lukasz Fabianski, Ignasi Miquel, Henri Lansbury, Oguzhan Ozyakup, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Maroune Chamakh and Gilles Sunu.
Arsenal had found themselves 3-1 down at the halftime point in this game, whilst they entered the tie against City 3-0 down at the break at the weekend. A brace from Wayne Rooney that had completed his hat-trick after netting in the first half, and goals from Nani and Park Ji-Sung added the misery on that torrid night for the Gunners.
Arsenal would have hoped to have avoided such another humiliating trip to Manchester, however it seems history certainly does repeat itself.
