Alan Shearer says ‘unplayable’ Manchester City duo ‘bullied’ Arsenal pair during 4-1 thrashing
Posted by  badge Boss on Apr 27, 2023 - 12:17PM
Kevin De Bruyne and Erling Haaland were ‘unplayable’ against Arsenal (Photo: Getty/BBC)

has hailed Kevin De Bruyne and as ‘unplayable’ after ’s 4-1 win over Arsenal.

The pair bagged three goals and three assists between them as night to put themselves in pole position to win the .

The Citizens are now just two points behind the Gunners with two games in hand and have even been tipped to win the treble having also reached the final of the FA Cup and the semi-finals of the Champions 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.

They [De Bruyne and Haaland] were unplayable tonight, they bullied the two centre-halves Gabriel and Rob Holding,’ Premier League legend Shearer said on Match of the Day.

‘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.

Rob Holding and Gabriel had a night to forget (Photo: Getty)

‘It was a magnificent performance from start to finish from Man City, they totally dominated in every position. Some of the play tonight was absolutely magnificent.

‘Haaland was too strong, he got one goal, he could of or should of had three or four. His finishing tonight wasn’t like how it has been the rest of the season. Arsenal just couldn’t cope with them tonight, they did bully them.’

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.’

City will hope for a similar performance and result in their next game when they travel to Fulham on Sunday.

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