Football writer Alex Keble analyses Wednesday's UEFA Champions League matches for Premier League clubs.
Familiar midfield issues surface for Man City
Juventus 2-0 Man City
Perhaps the most prominent feature of Manchester City’s seventh defeat from their last 10 matches in all competitions (incidentally, as many defeats as they had suffered in their previous 105 matches combined) was Ederson’s error for the opening goal, or the stubborn resistance of Juventus' deep-lying defence.
But the underlying reason for defeat was the same old tactical problem: a vulnerability to counter-attacks through central midfield.
"At the moment it just feels like every attack we concede is just so dangerous," Ilkay Gundogan told TNT Sports.
"And I have the feeling sometimes we are a bit careless in the duels […] and we just lose balls and they score on the transition every time."
Gundogan’s frank assessment is accurate. Not for the first time, he was isolated and overworked as City’s only No 6.
For both Juventus goals, he was pulled out of position to leave an empty midfield.
Pep Guardiola will hope to have solved the issue by January, because Man City – all the way down in 22nd place, on eight points – need at least one win from their remaining two fixtures, at Paris Saint-Germain and at home to Club Brugge, to squeeze into the playoffs.
On current form, that is far from guaranteed.
See: Man City's report and line-up
Lewis-Skelly makes his mark for Arsenal
Arsenal 3-0 Monaco
There was a time when Mikel Arteta’s side struggled to impose themselves in Europe but those days are a distant memory now.
Bukayo Saka was once more the star, scoring twice and registering an assist to take his Champions League goal involvements for Arsenal to 14. That moves him into the club's top 10, just behind Dennis Bergkamp (15) and Freddie Ljungberg (16). Thierry Henry leads the way on 51.
Saka now has 21 goal involvements across all competitions this season; Mohamed Salah (28) is the only other Premier League player to have more than 20.
Arsenal were comfortable victors at Emirates Stadium on Wednesday, easing past Monaco to make it six home wins (without conceding) from their last six in the Champions League group stage/league phase.
So confident was Arteta in his team’s superiority he gave a start to 18-year-old left-back Myles Lewis-Skelly.
Arsenal’s youngest Champions league starter since Alex-Oxlade Chamberlain in 2011 grabbed his opportunity with both hands.
Lewis-Skelly was sharp and forward-thinking, giving Arsenal purpose in possession while taking good care of the ball; he completed more take-ons than any other player (three) and came off in the 63rd minute with a 95.7 per cent passing accuracy.
"What I like about him is his courage, the position he takes, how he penetrates with the ball," Arteta told TNT Sports.
"He’s one of our own, he has a bright future ahead of him."
Lewis-Skelly’s best moment was providing the pre-assist for Arsenal's opening goal, by wriggling clear of a challenge before playing an excellent pass through to Gabriel Jesus, who crossed for Saka’s tap-in.
Arsenal have won four of their six league-phase matches, and most likely only need one victory from Dinamo Zagreb (H) and Girona (A) to seal a place in the top eight.
