- The Cyclone Times brings you Arsenal’s embarrassing loss to Manchester City at Emirates Stadium, which featured three City goals in the first 33 minutes.
“As low as it gets for Arsenal right now” was how one Gunners favourite described another humbling defeat by Manchester City, as the feeling grew around Emirates Stadium that one of football’s longest managerial reigns is drawing to a close.
There were tens of thousands of empty seats – and a toxic atmosphere from those who braved the weather – as the Gunners were beaten 3-0 by the runaway Premier League leaders for the second time in five days.
BBC Sport pundit Ian Wright called Sunday’s Wembley defeat in the Carabao Cup final an “insipid performance” and former team-mate Martin Keown went even further on Thursday.
The Gunners won three Premier League titles in Arsene Wenger’s first eight seasons in charge – but none in the following 13. Sitting sixth in the table, they are closer to bottom-placed West Brom than City in terms of points.
‘A sad evening… outplayed and outfought’
Keown, who played in those three title-winning seasons under Wenger, was scathing in his BBC Radio 5 live analysis.
“It’s turning into a sad evening for Wenger. They’ve been outplayed and outfought,” he said.
“The ingredients were put together by Wenger in 2004. Everyone was at boiling point and they had that desire to win games. You could see it with a player in midfield that controls the ball and demands the ball from the defenders. There was Marc Overmars, Emmanuel Petit and Patrick Vieira.
