Why never him?
No more can that be levelled at Jack Grealish as the Manchester City forward finally enjoyed a blockbuster moment in a big win. Having seen his opening goal at Old Trafford overshadowed, the former Villa man should savour every bit of his decisive goal to inflict Arsenal's first home defeat of the season.
A 3-1 win was a victory for Grealish's perseverance both on the night after getting into a spat with referee Anthony Taylor and in his City career. It was also a thumping message from the champions that they will take some serious beating in a title race that they barely looked in 10 days ago.
Also read: Man City ratings in Arsenal win as Dias shines
Arsenal gave plenty in an absorbing contest that should tell City they are facing a Gunners team that they have never seen during Pep Guardiola's time in England. Of their 11 consecutive league victories against them, this was one of the hardest.
But if this was Arsenal's big night, they came up against a team that are far more used to them. They just about held on in the first half when everything was thrown at them, and then made their class tell in the second to strike another psychological blow in a contest that certainly lived up to its billing.
This game was exciting people in October, the stiffest test yet of early leaders Arsenal to see what their title challenge was made of. Four months on, the fact Mikel Arteta's side still top the table has ramped up the expectations and the pressure.
Recent events have added to that, with an inconsistent-yet-galvanised City given fresh impetus to control the Premier League against an Arsenal team that haven't won a match since they were knocked out of the FA Cup at the Etihad last month. Having praised the Gunners for so long, and almost written off City's chances last week when they lost at Tottenham, an away victory here would see a change to top spot for the first time in over 100 days.
Arsenal started well against a City side again without a left-back - more of a surprise this time given the dangerous Bukayo Saka roamed the right wing even if it did work against Aston Villa - but when Eddie Nketiah headed a perfect Aleks Zinchenko cross wide from eight yards you wondered whether the pretenders to the throne would regret it. Kevin De Bruyne needed just two minutes to hurt them and reassert City's claim, intercepting a poor pass from Takehiro Tomiyasu before lofting the ball past Aaron Ramsdale for the opening goal.
As it stood, City would go top after taking the lead against the run of play: how would Arsenal respond? Very well.
Arteta's team got the ball to Saka more and more as Bernardo in particular struggled to stop the winger from flying past him without bringing him down. Saka had a great chance to equalise in the box but took too long over his shot and Ake blocked.
Sensing they were up against a force they do not usually face, City took the decision to slow the game - and the moments between play - right down. Ederson got away with three achingly long waits for a goal kick and a warning from referee Anthony Taylor before finally being booked inside 40 minutes.
Then came the game's controversial moment, and one that Arsenal and City both had reason to be both happy and unhappy with. Nketiah was played through and shot past Ederson from the corner of the box before then being taken out by the keeper, and seeing his goalbound shot cleared off the line by Ake.
Arsenal were delighted by the referee's decision to point to the spot, although decidedly less so when he didn't reach for a second yellow card for Ederson. Any relief from the visitors that Ederson stayed on was tempered by their reaction to the call itself; "Oh my god!" shouted Rodri in disgust as they felt that - just as in the derby - they were on the wrong side of a call that may well be in the rules but is rarely ever given.
Saka didn't care for any of it, he just stepped up and slapped the ball past Ederson for a deserved equaliser. The goal caused City to again pick up the pace, and they had hit the bar from a set-piece before the six minutes of added time were over.
City were happy to see the half-time whistle, but a change on the hour mark to switch to a back four helped to swing the game in their favour. Haaland soon thought he had a penalty only for it to be ruled out for offside, yet City would not be denied.
The visitors forced Zinchenko into an error and pressed the Arsenal backline high before another possession won up the pitch allowed Haaland and Gundogan to roll the ball for Grealish's big moment. A man who knows how to celebrate enjoyed that one with the away end.
In the final ten minutes, another crisp move allowed Haaland to bang in his 32nd goal of the season - that should stave off the boring criticisms for a few weeks - and secure the game for City. That's why they're champions.
Over the space of a few hours, City spoiled the Emirates party. Home fans arrived off the Tube singing about Arsenal being top of the league, but plenty had left their seats before the final whistle as their team's 101-day reign at the top of the table came to an end.
City knew what a big win it was, with long collective and individual celebrations after the whistle while Arsenal stars slumped in defeat. As Guardiola celebrated with the away fans on the final whistle, the manager may well feel that his team has never felt more alive this season.
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