Manchester City progressed to the fifth round of the FA Cup after defeating Arsenal 1-0 at the Etihad on Friday evening.
FA Cup
Result: Manchester City 1-0 Arsenal
Date: 27 January 2023
Venue: Etihad Stadium
Man City named a strong line-up, with only two changes from their win over Wolverhampton Wanderers, as goalkeeper Stefan Ortega was preferred alongside the return of Nathan Ake. The Gunners shuffled the pack, with the likes of Oleksandr Zinchenko reserved against his former side, along with Martin Odegaard, Gabriel Martinelli, William Saliba and Ben White.
The game got off to a lively start as Takehiro Tomiyasu almost gave the visitors an early lead with a half-volley from a loose on the edge of the box that was pushed away, at full stretch by Ortega.
Following a couple of turnovers, Arsenal carved out another good chance midway through the first stanza after Leandro Trossard, in his first start for the club, curled a shot in the box that required a strong hand from Ortega.
The Citizens looked to open up Mikel Arteta's charges with prolonged spells of possession but they lost their structure a couple of times from the visitors' high press, who could not make them pay for their errors.
Pep Guardiola's charges were more decisive coming from the break as ten minutes later Kevin De Bruyne forced a reflex save from goalkeeper Matt Turner after going through in the box.
City maintained their intensity going forward, especially after Julian Alvarez replaced Riyad Mahrez just before the hour-mark to reinforce the attack, alongside Erling Haaland.
Alvarez made an immediate impact for the hosts, as he fired a low cracking shot from range that came off the post and from the rebound, Jack Grealish recycled the ball and setup Ake to curl a shot towards the bottom corner with his weaker right foot.
To jack up Arsenal's subdued performance with 20 odd minutes to go, Arteta eventually brought on the fresh legs of Martinelli and Odegaard.
Martinelli caused Man City all sorts of problems with his pace on the left wing, as the Gunners came back to life and forced Guardiola's troops to defend too deep.
However, the Citizens had enough numbers defensively and managed to close out a narrow win that booked them a spot in the fifth round.
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