Arsenal 0-2 Man City 

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Arsenal’s hopes of winning a historic quadruple were dashed in the most bitter way possible on Sunday, when domestic rivals Manchester City beat them 2-0 in the English League Cup. Although Pep Guardiola’s side may be trailing Mikel Arteta’s in the Premier League, they looked like the real champions-elect at Wembley, where they confidently outplayed the Gunners. And while notable mistakes from second-string goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga may have directly led to Man City’s goals, it was the tepid performance from Arsenal’s attacking players that ultimately enabled their opponents to pick up the first silverware of the season.

Indeed, Arsenal managed just three shots on target over the course of the match, and no player exemplified the blunt and somewhat jaded attacking intent of Arteta’s team more than star winger Bukayo Saka. The England international managed just two shots on target over the course of the match, and according to Opta touched the ball just 36 times – fewer than half the amount of touches rival winger Rayan Cherki had and the fourth lowest among all of Arsenal’s starting players. Which, unfortunately for the gifted winger, is just the latest example of Saka struggling to score or create goals against the Etihad club.

Following Sunday’s cup defeat, Saka has now faced Man City 14 times across all competitions and been on the winning side on just one occasion. And that victory is somewhat hollowed out by the fact that it came in a de facto friendly, in the Community Shield victory over Man City in 2023. And while no one could specifically blame Saka for Arsenal’s acute struggles against Man City in recent years, his personal record certainly reflects his team’s inability to get the better of Guardiola’s side.

In total, Saka now has just one goal and three assists in 14 appearances against Man City – giving the 24-year-old winger an average of just 0.38 goals and assists per 90 minutes of football. As we can see in the table above, that makes Man City the England international’s fourth-worst opponent among all English clubs. Only Leicester City, Sheffield United and top-four challengers Aston Villa have thwarted Saka on more occasions than Guardiola’s star-studded defence. And, as we can see, Saka’s record against Man City is almost half his overall career rate of 0.62 goals and assists per 90 minutes across all competitions.

Unfortunately for Saka, Sunday’s tepid performance was also just the latest example of the winger’s underwhelming season to date. Since the start of the season, the Arsenal star has seen his market value fall from €150 million to €120m. Only one Premier League player has lost more market value since the start of the season, and Sunday’s showing against Man City was just the latest timely reminder of why that is the case.