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At 23 o'clock on August 12, Beijing time, in a key match in the first round of the English Premier League, Arsenal played Manchester City at home. Raheem Sterling opened the scoring with Bernardo Silva volleying in and Edouard Mendy provided two assists as City got the defending champions off to a flying start with a 2-0 win over Arsenal.

In the last 12 meetings between the two teams, Arsenal have won 2, drawn 5 and lost 5, and have not won 2 draws and 3 defeats in the last five league games against Manchester City. The Gunners have won just one of their last six league games against Manchester City, drawing three and losing two. Aaron Ramsey returned, Papastathopoulos and Guendouzi were featured, Cech continued as the first-choice goalkeeper, and City started with Sergio Aguero alongside Raheem Sterling and Riyad Mahrez, with Kevin De Bruyne and Leroy Sane on the bench.

In the 14th minute, Raheem Sterling cut inside with the ball on the left flank, and after passing Bellerin and Guendouzi in succession, he volleyed into the goal, 0-1, and Manchester City led away.

In the 64th minute, Mendy and Raheem Sterling combined to cross from the left, Bernardo Silva volleyed into the top corner of the goal, 0-2, Manchester City extended their lead.

The fire of the World Cup has just been extinguished, the curtain of the Premier League has restarted again, and a new round of football carnival, who can defeat the invincible division led by Guardiola? The iron-blooded Red Army led by Uncle Scum? Manchester United after three years in Mu? Or Chelsea with Maurizio Sarri at the helm? Or the Arsenal of the Emery era? Everything is unknown. But one thing is clear, the gunman is definitely out of play. "Heroes vs. Lu Bu", Arsenal, who took the lead, was easily picked off by Blue Moon before he could react. What's even more devastating for Gunners fans is that Guardiola hasn't even sent out his strongest squad yet.

As the highlight of the first round of the Premier League in the new season, this strong matchup between Arsenal and Manchester City is undoubtedly the most eye-catching. In the first game of the new season, everyone wants to get off to a good start, and as Arsenal's new manager, Unai Emery is no exception, knowing that this is his first official game with the Gunners and his Premier League debut, it will be very meaningful to lead the team to victory. Therefore, in this game, Arsenal coach Unai Emery chose to attack with a strong formation, and discharged the front trident of Ozil + Mkhitaryan + Aubameyang in the starting lineup.

The defeat also marked an embarrassing record for Unai Emery, who became the first Arsenal manager in nearly 32 years to end in a defeat in a league show. The last manager to lose on his debut for Arsenal was back in March 1986, when Steve Boternshaw lost 1-0 to Tottenham Hotspur on his debut for the Gunners.

In contrast, Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola kept his hand on the wings, with Riyad Mahrez and Raheem Sterling on the wings, Sergio Aguero as the starting striker, and Kevin De Bruyne, Leroy Sane and David Silva not in the starting line-up.

Surprisingly, even in the absence of the three absolute main players, Manchester City still showed a one-sided situation on the field against Arsenal, with a dream start with Raheem Sterling's goal in the 14th minute, and then relied on B-Silva to seal the win after the rematch in the second half. Statistics show that in the whole game, Manchester City had 13 shots on goal, five more than Arsenal, and nine of them were in the woodwork, which was three times more than Arsenal. It is no exaggeration to say that if it weren't for goalkeeper Petr Cech's repeated high picks and repeated saves, Unai Emery's team would have been beaten into a sieve!

Manchester City dominated the Premier League last season, winning a horrific 18th consecutive league game, and finally finished 19 points clear of second-placed Manchester United, thanks to the two central midfielders of Kevin De Bruyne and David Silva. Of course, Sane, the main player cruising on the wing, also contributed to it. Now, facing Arsenal, a traditional powerhouse, in the first round of the new league season, Guardiola chose to put these three absolute main players on the bench, and the blue moon still easily knocked out the opponent, and its terrifying offensive efficiency is staggering! It's hard to imagine that if Pep Guardiola sends all the main players to start and attack with a strong formation, will Manchester City go sideways in the Premier League?

On the contrary, Arsenal failed to show the traditional strength of the Premier League, not only did the midfield play poorly, but the backline was in danger on a number of occasions. Petr Cech came close to a stroke in the first half when he went on a cross to the right under pressure from his opponent and almost went straight into his own goal, before the ball slid just wide of the left-hand post. The 36-year-old is already in significantly lower form than in previous years, and at the end of last season he admitted he had made too many defensive mistakes. However, Arsenal could have lost even worse without the veteran goalkeeper, and before Bernardo Silva scored the second goal, a defensive mistake by Guindouzi had already given Aguero the chance to shoot a solo shot, and the Czech goalkeeper struggled to save the shot and did not allow City to score more.

Petr Cech touched the ball 57 times in a game, the second-most in the Arsenal squad. Arsenal midfielders Mesut Ozil and Xhaka were also lost in the game, with a number of passing errors and a significant drop in their off-the-ball movement in the second half. Moreover, City's high pressing tactics have paid off, with Mesut Ozil and Xhaka as playmakers clearly at a disadvantage in terms of physical confrontation.

Today's post-Arsene Wenger Gunners have gradually lost the strength and domineering that they used to compete with other giants. The Gunners left to the new coach Unai Emery (Cantonese transliteration: Annali) may have been more difficult to adjust than he had expected. Manchester City, Liverpool, Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea, are all above the Gunners. Today's Gunners have little chance of fighting for the top four, but the possibility of being reduced to a mid-table team is increasing.

At the beginning of the league, with 37 games to go and the winter window, the Gunners must change the slow and idealistic style of the past Wenger era, follow the trend and make quick decisions, which is the mainstream of modern football.