Arsenal were swept aside like a mid-table club by an under-par City.

Arsenal sprung a few surprises with their starting line-up. Francis Coquelin started in the middle of a back three with Nacho Monreal and Laurent Koscielny. Aaron Ramsey and Granit Xhaka were in midfield, with Mesut Ozil and Alex Iwobi flanking Alexis Sanchez up front. Alexandre Lacazette was dropped to the bench.

The hosts lined up as expected, with Fabian Delph continuing at left-back, David Silva and Kevin De Bruyne combining in midfield, the rapid duo of Leroy Sane and Raheem Sterling on the flanks and Sergio Aguero, fresh off record-breaking goal against Napoli, up front.

Arsenal received an early warning sign when Manchester City broke from a corner. Sterling’s turn duped two Arsenal players on the edge of the box and sent him away. He found De Bruyne, who played in Aguero down the right. He went for power, but put his shot wide of the near post. Conceding on a counter attack two minutes into a game would have been peak Arsenal.

Six minutes gone, and Arsenal made their first opening. Some good link-up play between Bellerin and Iwobi got the Spaniard in space on the right flank. He slipped the ball behind the City defence to Ramsey, who forced a corner out of City. It was early days, but Arsenal were playing some degree of confidence in City’s half.

Not only were they passing well, but pressing well, too. Ramsey pinched the ball high in City’s half and sent Alexis running at their backline. Unfortunately, his pass to Ozil down the right was poor and allowed City to recover. Moments later, City should have taken the lead. An attempted pass out of defence by Coquelin was intercepted by John Stones on the halfway line. He gave it to Silva, who played Sane in behind Koscielny. Sane opted not to shoot, and tried to find Sterling at the back post. His cross somehow missed everyone, and Arsenal were safe. For now.

With 15 minutes gone, the game settled into the rhythm we expected it to: plenty of City possession in Arsenal’s half. Arsenal were defending decently enough, but were unable to progress up the pitch, either because City were pressing too well or because Arsenal were giving the ball away. Inevitably, City took the lead. De Bruyne played a one-two around Ramsey and Ozil, carried on into the box on the left hand side and drove the ball into the far corner. It was a quality finish from an area you wouldn’t expect someone to score from, but you have to ask if he could have been stopped before he got that far. This was going to be a long, long afternoon.

City were piling on the pressure, with Arsenal continuing to struggle to get up the pitch. The one time they managed to get some possession in City’s half, they had two players over on the right hand side. Alexis ignored both of them for the more difficult through pass to Ozil, which was overhit and smothered by Ederson.

Half-an-hour gone and the home side were comfortable. Arsenal’s pressing was too slow and City could play the ball into midfield with ease. City’s pressing was a lot more organised and effective, and as a result, Arsenal couldn’t sustain any pressure in their half. At this point, we were just waiting for City to pick us off. A blind-side run from Silva was found be De Bruyne, but his cut-back missed everyone. Then, Ramsey lost the ball to Aguero in midfield, and City suddeny had a two v one counter. Fortunately, Sterling screwed up the pass to Sane big time.

Arsenal almost snatched a goal on the cusp of half-time. Alexis was able to hold off Stones and bring down a long pass. He played in Ramsey down the left, but his effort was saved by Ederson.

It was 1-0 at half-time. Only City’s wastefulness in the final third was keeping Arsenal in this game.

Three minutes into the second half, and City were awarded a penalty. Fernandinho’s pass over the top found Sterling in behind Kolasinac. Monreal tried to get round on the cover, couldn’t get his body in front and ended up bundling Sterling over. Aguero stepped up, smacked his penalty against the post and into the back of the net. 2-0, and that was surely that. Just the forty more minutes to see out.

55 minutes in, and Arsenal were almost handed a way back into the game. Iwobi’s well-struck effort from distance should have been a comfortable save for Ederson, but he couldn’t keep hold of it and almost spilled it into his own goal. Perhaps seeing some signs of encouragement, Wenger removed Coquelin, who had a good game in fairness to him, and put on Lacazette.

Arsenal then enjoyed a good spell. They were winning the ball higher up the pitch and committing numbers to the attack. It was a risky approach, as they were leaving a lot of space in behind, but it was rewarded. 65 minutes in, Iwobi found space in midfield and passed it forward to Ramsey. He slipped in Lacazette down the right, and the Frenchman, like the £50m striker he is, fired into the far corner.

The goal sparked City back into action, and they almost restored their two goal cushion immediately. Arsenal failed to properly clear a corner and it took a stunning save from Cech to keep out Gabriel Jesus. The home side reasserted their control over the game with a period of possession, with a plucky looking Arsenal occasionally threatened with counter attacks.

Inevitably, the third City goal came. Silva received the ball in behind while all the Arsenal defenders stood with their arms up in the air, hoping for an offside. It didn’t arrive, Silva played on, and rolled the ball to Jesus for an easy tap-in. Replays showed Silva was way offside, and several Arsenal defenders looking stupid as they failed to mark anyone.

Wenger responded by brining on Jack Wilshere and Olivier Giroud for Xhaka and Iwobi. By this point, City were just allowing Arsenal to come onto them and looking to pick them off on the break. As was the case in the first half, it was only City’s wastefulness that prevented them from extending their lead and giving Arsenal the thrashing they deserved.