Premier League legend Alan Shearer has hailed Kevin De Bruyne and Erling Haaland as ‘unplayable’ after Manchester City’s 4-1 win over Arsenal. The pair bagged three goals and three assists between them as City humiliated their title rivals at the Etihad on Wednesday night to put themselves in pole position to win the Premier League. De Bruyne and Haaland have been key to their success, with the attacking midfielder creating 27 assists and the striker scoring 49 goals in all competitions so far this season.
The worked in perfect tandem yet again against Arsenal and proved to be too much for their backline, with Gabriel Magalhaes and Rob Holding unable to contain their opposition. Shearer said on Match of the Day: ‘They [De Bruyne and Haaland] were unplayable tonight, they bullied the two centre-halves Gabriel and Rob Holding. Every time the ball went up, their understanding to know when, how and where to run, the timing and then the finish. They were never too far from each other, De Bruyne was always within five, ten yards of Haaland.’
Tactically, City played differently to normal against Arsenal, with Haaland notably setting up De Bruyne instead of the other way around, with the latter telling BT Sport post-match: ‘I think we set up a bit differently, instead of two number eights I had the freedom to go left or right depending on where the space was. When they played man to man we had to go a bit longer because there was no place for short passes. The first half was really good. We could have scored more. The second half was 50-50 but we didn’t give much away. They’re a class team and hard to play against. We had to be at our best today – and we were.’
Manchester City’s Kevin De Bruyne and Erling Haaland proved to be ‘unplayable’ against Arsenal on Wednesday night, according to Premier League legend Alan Shearer. The duo combined for three goals and three assists as City humiliated their title rivals at the Etihad Stadium, putting themselves in pole position to win the Premier League.
De Bruyne and Haaland have been instrumental in City’s success this season, with the attacking midfielder creating 27 assists and the striker scoring 49 goals in all competitions so far. The two worked in perfect tandem against Arsenal, with Gabriel Magalhaes and Rob Holding unable to contain them. Shearer said on Match of the Day: ‘They [De Bruyne and Haaland] were unplayable tonight, they bullied the two centre-halves Gabriel and Rob Holding. Every time the ball went up, their understanding to know when, how and where to run, the timing and then the finish. They were never too far from each other, De Bruyne was always within five, ten yards of Haaland.’
Tactically, City played differently to normal against Arsenal, with Haaland setting up De Bruyne instead of the other way around. De Bruyne told BT Sport post-match: ‘I think we set up a bit differently, instead of two number eights I had the freedom to go left or right depending on where the space was. When they played man to man we had to go a bit longer because there was no place for short passes. The first half was really good. We could have scored more. The second half was 50-50 but we didn’t give much away. They’re a class team and hard to play against. We had to be at our best today – and we were.’
City will hope for a similar performance and result in their next game when they travel to Fulham on Sunday.