Football journalist Alex Keble analyzes the UEFA Champions League matches from Wednesday concerning Premier League clubs.
Midfield Family Troubles Arise for Man City: Juventus 2-0 Man City
The underlying reason for the defeat was the same old tactical issue: vulnerability to counterattacks through the central midfield.
“Right now it seems that every attack we concede is very dangerous,” said Ilkay Gundogan, speaking to TNT Sports.
“And I feel that sometimes we are a bit careless in duels… And we just lose the ball, and they always score on the transition.”
Gundogan’s candid assessment is spot on. It’s not the first time he finds himself isolated and overworked as City’s sole number 6.
For both goals by Juventus, he was drawn out of position, leaving the midfield exposed.
Pep Guardiola hopes to have resolved this issue by January, as Manchester City, sitting in 22nd place with eight points, needs at least one victory in their remaining two matches against Paris Saint-Germain and at home against Club Brugge, to progress to the playoffs.
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At their current form, that is far from guaranteed.
Lewis-Skelly Leaves His Mark with Arsenal: Arsenal 3-0 Monaco
There was a time when Mikel Arteta’s side struggled to assert themselves in Europe, but those days are now a distant memory.
Bukayo Saka was once again the star, scoring two goals and providing an assist, bringing his total goal involvement in the Champions League with Arsenal to 14. This places him among the club’s top 10, just behind Dennis Bergkamp (15) and Freddie Ljungberg (16). Thierry Henry leads the way at 51.
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Saka now has 21 goals involved across all competitions this season; Mohamed Salah (28) is the only other Premier League player to exceed 20.
Arsenal enjoyed a comfortable victory at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday, easily overcoming Monaco to maintain six consecutive home wins (without conceding) in the group phase of the Champions League.
Arteta was so confident in his team’s superiority that he gave an outing to left-back Myles Lewis-Skelly, 18 years old.
The youngest starter for Arsenal in the Champions League since Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain in 2011 seized his opportunity with both hands.
Lewis-Skelly was intelligent and forward-thinking, giving Arsenal purpose in possession while taking good care of the ball; he completed more ball recoveries than any other player (three) and left the pitch in the 63rd minute with a passing accuracy of 95.7 percent.
“What I like about him is his courage, the position he takes, how he penetrates with the ball,” Arteta said, as reported by TNT Sports.
“He is one of ours and has a bright future ahead.”
The highlight of Lewis-Skelly’s performance was providing the assist for Arsenal’s first goal, skillfully evading a challenge before delivering an excellent pass to Gabriel Jesus, who crossed for Saka’s finish.
Arsenal has won four of their six group stage matches and will likely only need one more victory against Dinamo Zagreb (H) and Girona (A) to secure a place among the top eight.
