Manchester City 3-1 Arsenal: Sergio Aguero hat-trick helps Pep Guardiola's side return to winning ways
Sergio Aguero scored his 14th Manchester City hat-trick as the champions beat Arsenal 3-1 to cut Liverpool's Premier League lead to two points.
Aguero, who opened the scoring after just 46 seconds, netted all three from close range as City bounced back from their midweek defeat Newcastle with a convincing display at the Etihad Stadium.
Arsenal did pose some awkward questions after finding a quick equaliser through Laurent Koscielny, but two more from Aguero either side of the break put the result beyond doubt.
There was an element of controversy over Aguero's third after the ball struck his arm as he bundled it in, but it was not deemed deliberate.
City eased through the final stages to put the onus on Liverpool to respond at West Ham on Monday.
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- Manchester City have won four consecutive top-flight games against Arsenal for the first time since April 1937.
- Since the start of 2018, only two teams have lost more away games than Arsenal (12) in the Premier League – Brighton (14) and Huddersfield (13).
- Manchester City have won eight of their nine games in all competitions in 2019 (L1), scoring 34 goals and conceding just four in return.
- Only Alan Shearer (11) has scored more hat-tricks in the Premier League than Manchester City’s Sergio Aguero (10).
- Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero has been directly involved in 27 goals in his last 15 home starts in the Premier League (22 goals, 5 assists).
- At the age of 24 years and 57 days, Raheem Sterling has become the seventh youngest player in Premier League history to register 100 goal involvements in the competition (59 goals, 40 assists).
- Sergio Aguero has scored both of the two quickest goals in the Premier League this season (24 seconds v Newcastle and 46 seconds v Arsenal), with both coming in Manchester City's last two league games.
- Manchester City’s opening goal (0:46) was the quickest that Arsenal have conceded in a Premier League game since December 2014, when Stoke’s Peter Crouch scored against them after 19 seconds.
- 50% of Manchester City's goals conceded in the Premier League this season have been from set pieces; the highest ratio in the division (10/20).