Gabriel Martinelli returned to score a late winner as Arsenal beat Manchester City 1-0 on Sunday evening for the Gunners first league win over Pep Guardiola's men since 2015.

After last season’s Premier League title race, and years of City winning game after game, Sunday’s win was the culmination of several years of work for Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal.

Last year, there were several landmark wins whether it be beating Liverpool or winning away to Tottenham, but ultimately City's Guardiola proved to be the final boss that the Gunners could never beat.

Sunday’s win feels significant in a similar vein, another step in this Arsenal team’s journey, the reason the likes of Declan Rice were signed. 

Despite being without Bukayo Saka through injury, Arsenal went toe-to-toe with City, and after a rocky opening period, the game could have gone either way.

One area that stood out was the elite quality that the Gunners had on display, with Rice and William Saliba in particular showing up and leading by example.

Martinelli returned from a hamstring injury as a second-half substitute to inject some much-needed pace into the Arsenal attack and ended up scoring the 86th-minute winner to seal the victory.

Arteta’s substitutions, an area that has at times been lacking, were spot on in this game, amazingly leading to all four substitutes combining for the goal. 

Kai Havertz came on for Eddie Nketiah up front and used his size and strength to link play and facilitate a few chances in his limited minutes, including assisting the goal

Havertz’s best moments in an Arsenal shirt have come up top and it is something Arteta should be considering more moving forward.

The other aspect of the game that stood out was the ability to control the ball when needed, especially after the goal, shutting down the game and preventing a City comeback.

Particularly at home, that has been a frequent issue so hopefully something for Arsenal to hold onto.
 
The Gunners now face a long wait to build on their landmark success due to the international break before returning with a trip to Stamford Bridge to play Chelsea on Saturday October 21.

After a statement victory, Arsenal will hope to build momentum and rack up the points to put pressure on the chasing pack.