No crowd. Obviously, there would be no noise without the crowd. The goal celebrations were not wild but performed by maintaining a social distance. The fans watched the action from ZOOM. Overall, it was a sterile environment and this can’t be the English Premier League for sure. It was not normal, but a thumping victory for Manchester City and a shambolic defeat for Arsenal was not normal.

After a minute’s silence was observed, players from both sides took a knee in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement shortly before kick-off.

The Premier League returned after 100 days behind closed doors and Pep Guardiola’s boys were at their ruthless best.

For Arsenal, it was too tough to handle the energy and killer instinct of City.

Mikel Arteta’s positive test for COVID-19 led to the postponement of this fixture and decisively moved the Premier League towards suspension in March. Again, it might have been the three-month hiatus that led to David Luiz’s forgettable evening – his pathetic misjudgment allowed Sterling to score his first goal of 2020!

Luiz then digested a red card for fouling Riyad Mahrez after more poor defending, with Kevin de Bruyne converting the 51st-minute penalty.

Arsenal were in disarray.

City simply toyed with the Gunners.

City’s only worry was when Eric Garcia was taken away on a stretcher after an ugly collision with team-mate Ederson before Foden rounded out the win in the first additional eleven minutes.

Bernd Leno tipped a 20-yard De Bruyne free-kick over the top in a pedestrian opening in which Arsenal lost Granit Xhaka and Pablo Mari to injury, with the hapless David Luiz replacing the latter.

Sterling was then guilty of wastefulness when trying to scoop a close-range effort over Leno as Arsenal’s defence became stretched.

But it was third time lucky for Sterling on the stroke of half-time.

Following a long delay, Foden tapped into an empty goal when fellow substitute Sergio Aguero struck the post.

City made a fantastic return leaving Arteta plenty to think of.

With lack of coordination between the back, center and upfront; Arteta would not be able to cope in the coming days. The defence of Gunners is nothing but a wall containing plenty of holes in it, which can be exploited easily. And without a solid backline, it is hard to survive in football until and unless a team is blessed with some extraordinary players.

Sadly, Arsenal don’t have such!

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