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Highlights and Report: Manchester City Beat Arsenal 2-0

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LONDON – Highlights and report from the English Premier League Week 1 highlighted game between Manchester City and Arsenal in London.

Manchester City opened the defense of their English Premier League title with a commanding 2-0 win over Arsenal in a season opener for both teams at Emirates Stadium on Sunday.

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Raheem Sterling silenced the majority of the almost 60,000 fans at the Emirates when he opened the scoring for Manchester City in the 14th minute.

The England international fired City into what was a deserving lead when he shifted past Hector Bellerin and Matteo Guendouzi and beating Petr Cech with his 50th Premier League goal.

Bernardo Silva wrapped up the win with an excellent strike on 64 minutes to earn the three points for the Citizens and handed Unai Emery a defeat on debut as the new Arsenal manager.

“Our average level is high, we cannot deny that. I’ve said many times I have the feeling we can improve,” said Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola.

“Still, we are not good enough to know exactly what we have to do, but in general, I cannot be more satisfied from what I saw against Chelsea and Arsenal.”

Meanwhile, Arsenal boss Emery said: “Manchester City’s performance showed us that we need to continue the process of improving. They deserved the result.

“We are a new team [that needs] to improve. For me today, I was frustrated that we lost but it is also one more experience and continued progression,” he added.

SKY SPORTS PLAYER RATING

Arsenal: Cech (5), Bellerin (6), Sokratis (5), Mustafi (5), Maitland-Niles (5), Guendouzi (5), Xhaka (5), Mkhitaryan (5), Ramsey (6), Ozil (6), Aubameyang (6).

Subs: Lichtsteiner (6), Lacazette (5), Torreira (5).

Man City: Ederson (6), Walker (7), Stones (6), Laporte (6), Mendy (7), Silva (8), Fernandinho (6), Gundogan (6), Mahrez (6), Aguero (6), Sterling (8).

Subs: De Bruyne (6), Jesus (5), Sane (n/a).

Man of the match: Bernardo Silva

Arsenal v Manchester City Line-ups, Livescores, How To Watch

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LONDON — Confirmed starting line-ups, television channels and live scores for the English Premier League game between Arsenal and Manchester City at Emirates Stadium, which is an opener for both teams. Watch Live on NBC Sports | Stream Live on NBCSports.com | Follow Live Blog Updates

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For Arsenal, Petr Cech starts ahead of Bernd Leno in goal and captains the team today, while Riyad Mahrez has been handed his first competitive debut for Manchester City.

Guarding Cech today are Sokratis Papastathopoulos, who starts alongside Shkodran Mustafi with Hector Bellerin and Ainsley Maitland-Niles also start in defense.

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Youngster Matteo Guendouzi also makes his competitive debut in midfield for the Gunners with Granit Xhaka, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Aaron Ramsey, Mesut Ozil and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang completing the line-up.

Summer recruits Lucas Torreira and Stephan Lichtsteiner are on the bench, alongside Alexandre Lacazette and Mohamed Elneny.

Mahrez is given a place in the starting line-up with captain Vincent Kompany, Kevin De Bruyne and Leroy Sane named as substitutes.

Also on the bench are Gabriel Jesus and young standout Phil Foden.

Fernandinho captains the team today with IIkay Gündogan, Sergio Aguero, Raheem Sterling, Bernardo Silva, Aymeric Laporte and Benjamin Mendy also starting.

Manchester City: Ederson, Walker, Stones, Laporte, Mendy, Silva, Fernandinho, Gundogan, Mahrez, Aguero, Sterling. Subs: Bravo, Kompany, De Bruyne, Sane, Otamendi, Jesus, Foden.

Arsenal: Cech, Bellerin, Sokratis, Mustafi, Maitland-Niles, Guendouzi, Xhaka, Mkhitaryan, Ramsey, Ozil, Aubameyang. Subs: Leno, Elneny, Lacazette, Torreira, Lichtsteiner, Holding, Iwobi.

Liverpool, Arsenal Win; Tottenham Suffer Defeat In Pre-Season

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LONDON – English Premier League top six teams had mixed results in Saturday’s pre-season friendly games, as they prepare for the start of the new season.

Title contenders Liverpool and Arsenal both picked up wins on the day but Tottenham, which is expected to be among the leaders, were humbled by Girona.

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At the Friends Arena in Stockholm, Arsenal wrapped up their preparations for the new season with a 2-0 win over Italian side Lazio.

Goals on either side of 45 minutes by Reiss Nelson (18′) and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (64′) secured the win for Unai Emery’s side, as new summer signings Lucas Torreira and Stephan Lichtsteiner were both handed debuts.

The victory on Saturday sees Arsenal ending the pre-season fixtures without a defeat in normal time.

New manager Emery now turns his attention to getting his side ready for a tough Premier League opener against defending champions Manchester City next Sunday.

At Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Liverpool battered another Serie A side, Napoli 5-0, as manager Jurgen Klopp handed record signing goalkeeper Alisson his debut.

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Alisson, the Brazilian No. 1 at the 2018 World Cup, had a pretty quiet outing, besides needing to keep out a shot from Napoli’s Lorenzo Insigne.

The Reds made a positive start when James Milner (5′) and Georginio Wijnaldum (9′) netted inside of the opening 10th minute to give the men from Anfield a 2-0 lead heading into the first half break.

After the interval, Mohamed Salah, Daniel Sturridge and Alberto Moreno also scored for Liverpool in the comfortable win.

Liverpool will wrap up their pre-season schedule at home against another Serie A side, Torino on Tuesday before opening their Premier League campaign against West Ham on Sunday.

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Meanwhile, Tottenham suffered a 4-1 setback against La Liga side Girona in their last pre-season outing at Municipal de Montilivi.

Spurs grabbed the lead in the 13th minute through a superb free kick by Lucas Moura, but Girona replied with goals from Juan Pedro López (22′) and Anthony Lozano (34′) to give the home side the lead at halftime.

Following the break, the Spanish side netted twice again with Cristian Portu scoring in the 53rd minute and Aleix García Serrano getting on the scoresheet in the 61st.

Tottenham begin their English Premier League campaign against Newcastle next Saturday.

Liverpool v Bury; Arsenal v Boreham Wood: Live Preseason Games

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LONDON — Arsenal and Liverpool will both feature in pre-season action on Saturday, as the preparation for the 2018-19 English Premier League campaign continues.

Liverpool will play its third game of the early preseason schedule when Jurgen Klopp’s men take on Bury, live at 10:00 am ET. Watch the clash with Bury live on LFCTV and LFCTV GO

The Reds have already picked up wins over Chester FC and Tranmere Rovers.

Expected to play for the first time this preseason are defenders Joel Matip and Virgil van Dijk who missed the previous two friendlies to concentrate more on individual fitness and overall preparation.

Matip has recovered from a thigh injury he picked up in the final weeks of last season, while Van Dijk is now available after returning to pre-season training late due to international commitments.

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However, midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum will sit out the match as a precaution due to a minor muscle issue, while striker Danny Ings has severe blisters and could be rested as well.

Meanwhile, at Meadow Park, Arsenal will play its first game of the preseason when new manager Unai Emery names his side to face Boreham Wood.

Arsenal supporters will be eager to see if new summer signings Stephan Lichtsteiner, Sokratis, Bernd Leno, Lucas Torreira and Matteo Guendouzi will any part in this game.

Live Audio stream is available on Arsenal.com, starting at10:00 am ET.

Watch Live Stream: Chelsea v Arsenal Live Scores, Lineups, Report

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LONDON, Sporting Alert — Arsenal have left some big names out of the starting lineup for today’s Premier League clash at Chelsea.

Watch Live Stream: Chelsea v Arsenal @ 8:30 am ET

Live Blog Premier League: Chelsea v Arsenal
 

Manager Arsene Wenger, who was heavily criticized for picking players not wanting to be at the club in the 4-0 drubbing by Liverpool, has decided to leave Alexis Sanchez on the bench today, while Mesut Ozil is out of the squad altogether.

Sanchez impressed for the Gunners in the Europa League in midweek, but Wenger has decided to leave the Chile forward on the bench to start this game, with Alex Iwobi coming into the team.

The change is the only adjustment to the starting lineup featured in the win over Bournemouth last weekend.

There is no place, however, for Ozil, but club record signing Alesandre Lacazette gets his start in a big game and will also have Danny Welbeck in support.

Sead Kolasinac was impressive off the bench against Cologne in the Europa League in midweek and he starts.

Meanwhile, manager Antonio Conte has made two modifications to the side that beat Leicester City last weekend, as captain and leading center-back Gary Cahill returns from suspension and is slotted straight back into the starting XI.

Also coming in is winger Willian to add more pace to the side.

Eden Hazard is among the substitutes today, along with Antonio Rudiger and Tiemoue Bakayoko.

Despite a very effective goalscoring performance in the Champions League in midweek, summer signing Davide Zappacosta is only on the bench as Victor Moses starts at right-back.

ARSENAL TEAM NEWS

Team to play Chelsea: Cech, Koscielny, Ramsey, Lacazette, Iwobi, Monreal, Mustafi, Welbeck, Bellerin, Xhaka, Kolasinac. Subs: Ospina, Mertesacker, Sanchez, Giroud, Walcott, Maitland-Niles, Elneny.

CHELSEA TEAM NEWS

Team to play Arsenal: Courtois, Alonso, Fabregas, Kante, Morata, Pedro, Moses, Willian, Cahill, Azpilicueta, Luiz. Subs: Caballero, Rudiger, Hazard, Bakayoko, Zappacosta, Batshuayi, Christensen.