Raheem Sterling of England
Predictably, Arsenal were outclassed 3-1 by rampant Manchester City prompting Arsene Wenger to say it will be “difficult” for any team to stop Manchester City from winning the Premier League. But Arsenal have right to feel hard done by as the referee, Michael Oliver, awarded a soft penalty to City and also allowed a clear offside goal against Arsenal to count.
Wenger said City’s quality, shown in their club record of 15 straight wins in all competitions, made it hard to imagine any team over taking them
“Can anyone stop them? It will be difficult this season, the way they have started, the quality they have, but you never know.
“If on top of that, they have decisions at home like that, they will be unstoppable,” Wenger told reporters.
City went 2-0 up five minutes into the second half after referee Oliver ruled that Nacho Monreal had bundled over Raheem Sterling inside the area and Sergio Aguero converted from the spot. Substitute Alexandre Lacazzete pruned the score line to 2-1 with a clinically scored goal before City scored a third goal which came after a pass from David Silva whom television replays showed was narrowly in an offside position.
“I don’t want to take anything away from the quality but it happened at a moment when we were really in the game at 2-1 and it killed the game.
“It is the second year. We got two offside goals here last year and one this year,” Wenger added.
“I felt it was an intense game of quality of both sides. Man City are on a high but I felt we had plenty of dangerous situations and chances.”
“Overall once again, the referee made the decision again with a penalty and an offside goal. We are used to it.”
“I feel they (referees) don’t work enough, because it happens every season. It is unacceptable”.
In other matches on Super Sunday, Tottenham tamed Crystal Palace with a narrow 1-0 win at home while Chelsea pipped Manchester United 1-0 at Stamford Bridge. But it was Everton who grabbed the headline with their first ever win this season, hitting a gritty Watford team 3-2 to the joy of their hitherto dispirited fans.
