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Arsenal deliver painful Enzo Maresca reality check as Man City on end of mauling ARSENAL 3-0 MANCHESTER CITY: Enzo Maresca's first big outing since replacing Pep Guardiola turned into a nightmare in Cardiff as City's title rivals ran riot Arsenal dished out a mauling to Enzo Maresca in his first test since replacing Pep Guardiola. And a painful reminder to Manchester City of just how tough life is going to be without the Spanish genius. These two teams were the best in the Premier League last season. But in one game in Cardiff's Principality Stadium, the bitter rivals looked poles apart. Arsenal ripped City to shreds from start to finish, including an opening goal inside 23 seconds, on an afternoon Maresca will want to forget in a hurry. But the pressure on the Italian to maintain the incredible standards his predecessor set, will never escape him. As for Mikel Arteta, he waited three years to end his trophy drought, and has now pocketed two inside four months. Riccardo Califiori opened the scoring within half a minute - and Arsenal never looked back. Kai Havertz doubled the lead, before the impressive Martin Odegaard completed the rout in style. There was £125m worth of new talent on show, in the shape of Bruno Guimaraes, Christos Tzolis and Elliot Anderson, while Jack Grealish was named on the City bench. There was no Rodri for City, though, with the Spanish World Cup winner still at the centre of a transfer saga between his club and Barcelona. And it took Maresca's men just 23 seconds to miss the glue Rodri provides and come unstuck. Miles Lewis-Skelly turned past Phil Foden and slipped a sublime pass inside Ruben Dias for Calafiori to run onto and beat Gianluigi Donnarumma with a neat finish. Welcome to the new job, Enzo. Arsenal looked pumped up, and moments later Odegaard charged forward but somehow the move came to nothing, despite him having options left and right. City looked disjointed and sluggish. It took them 20 minutes to show signs of life, when Foden demanded a smart save from David Raya with a dripping strike. Gabriel had to snuff out a dangerous run from Jeremy Doku minutes later. The Brazilian then puffed out his chest and pumped up the crowd. It felt like this game meant more to Arsenal than City. So it came as no surprise when Arteta's men doubled their lead before half time. Odegaard picked out Tzolis at the back post and when he headed it back into the path of Havertz, the German managed to bundle his own header past a flapping Donnarumma. City had a mountain to climb. Scoring one past this Arsenal defence looked beyond them, let alone three. Especially when City started creating chances, but missed them. Erling Haaland should have beaten Raya, but saw his shot well saved, before Ben White produced a stunning block to deflect Doku's shot over the crossbar. Califiori should have made it 3-0 at the opposite end, but volleyed over from close range, while Josko Gvardiol hacked a shot from Odegaard off his own line. It got that desperate, Maresca sent on Grealish for the second half. But the first action he saw was Odegaard putting Donnarumma on his backside in the process of making it 3-0, to pile more pain on City. Maresca was taunted with chants of 'you're getting sacked in the morning'. Just one of the past 15 winners of this silverware have gone on to become champions that season. But on this evidence, Arsenal look more than capable of bucking the trend. Join our new WhatsApp community and receive your daily dose of Mirror Football content. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice. Sky's Essential TV and Sky Sports bundle includes at least 215 live Premier League clashes across the 2026/27 season, with more than 1,500 games from the EFL and beyond, plus F1, golf and darts. This introductory offer saves £384 compared to the standard price, with every package also providing 100 regular channels alongside free Netflix and discovery+ subscriptions.