Mikel Arteta has every right to feel paranoid after Arsenal and City controversy (original) (raw)
MANCHESTER CITY 2-2 ARSENAL: Pep Guardiola's side still occupy top spot in the Premier League after their dramatic draw with Arsenal but the Gunners have sent a huge warning to their title rivals
Mikel Arteta has Arsenal in a great position to challenge Man City
The ramifications from this one will run and run.
But one thing is for certain: Arsenal are getting closer to Manchester City and now arguably have the measure of the champions. Arsenal came so close to winning with 10 men. They put up a heroic rearguard action which only cracked after a 98th minute goalmouth scramble and it was City who were celebrating a last gasp draw.
City had run out of ideas, they had got nowhere to go and then got lucky with a deflection which fell to John Stones who put the ball into the net. There was a sense of inevitability about the goal because it keeps City top of the table and only serves to play into Arsenal’s sense of injustice.
Leandro Trossard was sent off for two yellow cards, the second of which was for kicking the ball away in first half injury time. Considering Declan Rice had got his marching orders for doing the same last month made it pretty daft. But referee Michael Oliver did not produce a yellow card in the first half when Jeremy Doku kicked the ball away and delayed a restart.
Has Mikel Arteta got a right to feel aggrieved? Definitely. Should he feel paranoid about decisions? It’s beginning to look like it. Managers just want consistency.
That only added to the fire between the two sets of players and will only stir up this title rivalry even further. That is a tribute to Arsenal because reigning champions only get wound up by teams they see as a threat.
Forget Arteta’s relationship with Pep Guardiola. Or the fact they even hugged at the final whistle. Now they are the biggest rivals in the Premier League and the apprentice is coming for the sorcerer’s crown.
Arsenal will feel gutted to let a goal slip so late on but, considering they were away from home at Atalanta in the Champions League last Thursday night, this was still one hell of a result and performance.
Leandro Trossard is awarded a red card by Michael Oliver (
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Getty Images)
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The second half actually became a training ground exercise with the best attack in the Premier League against the best defence. It was intriguing, engrossing but also frustrating because games are rarely a fair contest when one team has ten men.
This was a world away from last March’s stalemate because Arsenal had been ahead, they looked ready to win and then the Trossard sending off changed everything. They had to park the bus.
Arsenal showed great maturity not least because they fell behind after just nine minutes when Erling Haaland put City ahead after latching onto Savinho’s through ball.
Incredibly, that was Haaland’s 100th City goal in just 105 games. Ilkay Gundogan then hit the post with a free kick and it looked like City would overwhelm Arsenal. But Arsenal roared back. Arteta had brought in Riccardo Calafiori to start ahead of Ben White who was carrying a knock.
And it paid dividends. Thomas Partey took a quick free kick, Gabriel Martinelli laid it off and Calafiori swept home a spectacular curling left foot shot which flew inside the far post.
City were rightly aggrieved as the referee had called the captains together before Partey’s free kick and Kyle Walker was out of position. Not a good day for Oliver.
Riccardo Calafiori celebrates his first Arsenal goal (
Image:
Getty Images)
Arsenal went ahead in first half injury time. Bukayo Saka ’s deep corner caused chaos, Martinelli and William Saliba blocked defenders and then Gabriel powered home.
The visitors should have gone in at half time buoyed - but then blew it. Trossard, who had been booked for pulling Savinho, got his second yellow. Arsenal went mad.
But they came out determined and limited City to long range efforts, they could not find a way through and when they did, David Raya made good saves from Haaland and Josko Gvardiol.
City then nicked it in the 98th minute. Jack Grealish’s short corner routine caught Arsenal by surprise, Mateo Kovacic’s shot was deflected off Gabriel and there was Stones to nick it.
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