Manchester City started their EPL title defense with a 2-0 win over Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium .
Raheem Sterling gave the Citizens an early lead in the 12th minute.
Arsenal gave all they had but they couldn’t stop City from finishing the first half with a 1-0 victory.
The Gunners improved after the restart but they didn’t offer much in the final third.
Bernardo Silva scored the second goal in the 64th minute when he finished off a cut back from Benjamin Mendy, who had earlier assisted Raheem Sterling for the first goal.
Manchester City were in cruise control after the second goal.
Arsenal couldn’t get a consolation goal as things fell apart for the Gunners towards the end of the contest.
Arsenal coach Unai Emery pointed to the positives in the match after losing in his first competitive match.
“The result was 2-0 but I think on the pitch over the 90 minutes we were getting better,” Emery said.
“The first half we didn’t play like we wanted. We spoke at half-time about taking more responsibility for the second half, to do a little more.
We wanted to build with the ball and break their lines. I think in the second half we played more like we want.”
Pep Guardiola is satisfied with his players for their impressive performance.
“Every season is a major season and this game was complicated but we played at a high level.
We created a lot of chances and our performance was good. We keep going,” said Guardiola.
“We are satisfied for many, many reasons.
“At 1-0 we found a goal maybe we didn’t deserve but in the first half we deserved to score two or three more.”
