That’s all from me. I’ll leave you with Jamie Jackson’s match report from the Etihad – goodnight!
The matchwinner Nathan Ake speaks
I thought we deserved to win. We were better in the second half, but it was tough – they press very high and it was hard to play out. We had to use Erling more.
[On the goal] It was a good pass from Jack and I think it’s the first one I’ve scored with my right foot, so I’m pleased with that.
There’s still more to come from the team. Today was more about resilience; we stayed strong and made sure we didn’t concede.
City love to win domestic cups under Pep Guardiola. Even at this early stage, there aren’t too many teams left in the tournament for them to fear.
Mikel Arteta won’t say as much in public, but I doubt he’ll be too disappointed that Arsenal are out of the FA Cup. The Premier League is all that matters, and this probably increases their chance of winning it.
Full time: Man City 1-0 Arsenal
Peep peep! Nathan Ake’s cool finish was enough for Manchester City to beat Arsenal in a disappointing match. It was a strange, subdued game, with few shots on target at either end, and it’s fair to assume the league game at the Emirates in a couple of weeks will be far more intense.
In fact, we may have just seen a bit of that intensity because it looked like Granit Xhaka and Erling Haaland were exchanging unpleasantries after the final whistle.
90+5 min Zinchenko, already booked, is late on Bernardo Silva and is a bit fortunate not to receive a yellow card. Zinchenko is furious, berating himself before play resumes.
90+2 min Zinchenko is booked for a foul on Kyle Walker.
90+1 min City pass the clock down some more.
90 min Four added minutes.
88 min Martinelli gets round the back again. His cross takes a couple of deflections before Ortega pounces theatrically on the ball, like a winger scoring a try, in the six-yard box.
87 min Xhaka slides a brilliant through pass towards Martinelli, and Ortega flies from his line to dive at Martinelli’s feet and claim the ball. Fine goalkeeping, though ultimately it didn’t matter as Martinelli was offside.
85 min Martinelli’s inswinger is headed away well by Rodri. Vieira gives the ball back to Martinelli, who scurries into the six-yard box from the left and pokes a cutback that is pushed away at the near post by Ortega.
84 min A better spell for Arsenal, with Odegaard getting involved for the first time since coming on. Zinchenko’s pass towards Martinelli is headed behind for a corner by Walker.
81 min Alvarez has another pop from distance. This one swirls down the throat of Turner, who makes a comfortable save.
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79 min City are managing the game well now, and Arsenal are struggling to get hold of the ball.
76 min Vieira fouls Grealish, who gives him a mouthful in return. Arsenal had a really good spell straight after the goal but City have been much more comfortable since then.
75 min: City substitution Bernardo Silva replaces Kevin De Bruyne.
74 min: Arsenal substitution Martin Odegaard replaces Bukayo Saka, who had a quiet game. I guess Fabio Vieira will move to the right wing.
74 min “I’ve no dog in this fight and am enjoying the game,” says Martin Logan, “but I’d enjoy it so much more if Matterface would stop giving stats from 1856.”
I’m not really in any position to criticise someone for harking back to the past.
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73 min And here’s the goal to which Jeff was referring.
Alvarez is denied by the post... but Nathan Ake finds the bottom corner in style! 😎@ManCity | @EmiratesFACup pic.twitter.com/hw9VQBpQ9t
— ITV Football (@itvfootball) January 27, 2023
73 min “Ake - not just a brilliant defender!” says Jeff Sax. “Hope Nunez was watching.”
Number 82, Jeffrey, number 82.
72 min City calm things down with a couple of minutes of possession. Arsenal are about to bring on Martin Odegaard.
70 min “Incidentally,” says Harriet Osborn, “the last competitive goal Matt Turner shipped was also to a Dutch fullback.”
That World Cup already feels an age ago.
69 min Arsenal have responded really well to going behind, and at the moment they are pinning City back.
67 min: Great defending from Laporte! Xhaka, in the inside-left channel, curls a stunning cross towards Nketiah at the far post. He is shaping to shoot – and almost certainly score – when Laporte stretches to poke the ball behind for a corner. Fantastic defending.
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66 min: Double substitution for Arsenal Oleksandr Zinchenko and Gabriel Martinelli replace Kieran Tierney and the impressive Leandro Trossard.
It all started when Alvarez turned, 25 yards from goal, and crashed a superb shot that beat Turner and hit the far post. Grealish collected the rebound, protected the ball for a few seconds and then reversed a clever pass to the supporting Ake, 12 yards out. Ake had to shoot first time, with Saliba coming to meet him, and he gently passed the ball into the far corner with his right foot. That was such a calm, precise finish.
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GOAL! Man City 1-0 Arsenal (Ake 64)
All that attacking talent on the field, and Nathan Ake breaks the deadlock.
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64 min Apparently Thomas Partey took a knock to the ribs in the first half, so I’d imagine he was substitute as a precaution.
62 min Mikel Arteta will be thrilled with how comfortable Arsenal have been so far. It’s not quite a reverse side, but it’s not far off – at the moment they have four of their best XI on the field, and they have been the equal of City.
61 min City have changed shape slightly – Alvarez is playing behind Haaland, with De Bruyne to the right and Grealish on the left.
60 min “In their last game against Arsenal, City’s only shot on target before their stoppage time winner was a penalty,” says Zach Neeley. “They have zero so far today. If Arsenal are heading toward another moral victory, I hope it’s to get it out of their system, because after today those won’t be good enough.”
59 min A long ball forward is headed up in the air by Nketiah on the edge of the area. It drops for Vieira, who swishes a volley wide of the far post. He had the time to take a touch there.
58 min: Double substitution for City Kyle Walker and Julian Alvarez replace Rico Lewis and Riyad Mahrez.
55 min Turner is okay to continue and makes an important save from De Bruyne’s sliderule cross. Haaland was waiting behind him to score.
City are starting to look better in attack.
54 min The Arsenal goalkeeper Matt Turner has hurt his left shoulder and is receiving treatment.
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52 min Mahrez clips a nice pass into Lewis, running into space on the right side of the area. He tries to hook the ball across goal from a tight angle but screws it into the side netting.
51 min City break promisingly. De Bruyne plays a through pass to Haaland, who is sandwiched by Tomiyasu and Saliba in the area. He sends Tomiyasu flying with a shoulder charge but Saliba clears the danger.
50 min “I really ought to have known that Richard Rodgers wrote the music to both Blue Moon and You’ll Never Walk Alone, which got me thinking if other clubs might use some of his melodies too,” says Gary Naylor. “So far, I’ve only got Sean Dyche being asked about how many signings he needs before Monday night and replying, ‘Sixteen Going On Seventeen.’”
49 min The second half has started as the first finished, and that’s not a compliment. The atmosphere is so flat.
47 min “I saw REM circa 86-87 in a gymnasium at the University of British Columbia,” says Allan Castle. “If I recall rightly the opening act was Guadalcanal Diary. Anyway, good show but my principal memory was Michael Stipe going on a several minute between-song diatribe about human rights in Central America.
“When he finished there was some scattered clapping, then silence, followed by the longhair guy standing next to me on the floor shouting ‘ROCK AND ROLL!’ - a command rather than a comment. Welcome to BC.”
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46 min Peep peep! Erling Haaland gets the second half under way.
Mikel Arteta has made two half-time changes Albert Sambi Lokonga and William Saliba are on for Thomas Partey and Rob Holding. No word yet on whether Partey has an injury.
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Half time: Man City 0-0 Arsenal
That’s the end of a first half that was bizarrely sleepy at times, particularly when City had the ball. I’m struggling to make sense of it all.
A much changed Arsenal had the better chances, with Stefan Ortega saving well from the lively Leandro Trossard and Eddie Nketiah volleying wide. Kevin De Bruyne almost scored a peach for City, but there was no rhythm in their play and Erling Haaland spent most of the half having a wrestling match with Rob Holding.
45+4 min Actually, Laporte has only just come onto the field, as he wasn’t ready when Stones limped off.
45+3 min: City substitution Aymeric Laporte replaces the luckless John Stones.
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45+2 min “These are the best two teams in England, Rob?” sniffs Simon McMahon. “I’ve switched over to Cove Rangers v Ayr United on the BBC Scotland channel. Still following the MBM of course, whilst listening to Document.”
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45+1 min Two minutes of added time. John Stones is down with what looks like a hamstring problem. That’s a bad blow for City – they have a lot of centre-halves but he has arguably been the best in the past 18 months.
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45 min “Man City,” says Jeff Sax, “are playing like Pep’s pre-game interview.”
They’re just not right at the moment, are they?
43 min “That’s a wonderful photo of a sweaty Hulk Holding in close combat with Haaland Macho Man Savage,” says Peter Oh. “Have you got one of Rowdy Rodri Piper?”
Hulk Holding is a keeper.
42 min Holding is booked for his 48th shirt pull on Haaland, who was breaking into space.
39 min Ortega gets away with a nervous bit of goalkeeping. He came to the edge of his area to meet a strange backpass from Mahrez, booted the ball against Stones and then took out Nketiah in his follow through.
38 min: Chance for Haaland! Tierney, in the centre circle, slices a clearance towards his own goal. The last man Gabriel has a few yards on Haaland, who shows frightening speed to get to the ball first on the edge of the area. He lobs it over Turner and a few yards wide of the right-hand post. Having got to the ball, he probably should have done better.
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37 min “Based upon your MBM so far (to watch this match in the US requires a $100/year subscription, sorry World’s Grandest Domestic Cup but it isn’t worth it!),” begins Alex Whitney, “is it fair to say there’s a significant degree of nominative determinism applying to the behaviours of Arsenal’s fourth-choice centre back?”
Heh, indeed, although I should stress it’s been a 50/50 wrestling match.
36 min Grealish swaggers infield, away from Tomiyasu, but his through pass towards Haaland is well read by Holding.
34 min “Greeting Rob from sunny, soggy northern California,” says Mary Waltz. “I saw REM at the Forum in LA on the Green Tour. Outstanding performance, they put on a show that filled the entire arena. The exact opposite of the Everton dumpster fire. Nothing in the transfer window so far allays my fear of relegation, Dyche is a nice guy but his hiring is a bit of a damp squib. Sigh.”
I know it’s not as exciting as Bielsa but I think he’s a perfect fit. And if he can’t sort out the mess, you really are in trouble.
33 min: Chance for Nketiah! Arsenal are the better team at the moment. Trossard surges down the left and arrows a cross to the near post, where Nketiah gets across Akanji but volleys wide from six yards. It came quickly and a slightly awkward height, but he’s good enough to take chances like that.
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32 min “I’m old enough to remember the origins of the phrase ‘What’s The Frequency, Kenneth?’ dating back to 1986,” writes James. “Wondering if anyone else does...”
Crikey, I’d never heard that before. Who knew? You, obviously.
31 min Haaland has passed a concussion test and is going to continue.
30 min Now Haaland is down holding the back of his head, which was introduced to one of the bonier bits of Rob Holding’s right arm. I suspect he’d have been booked had the referee seen it.
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29 min “The best soundtrack for a sporting event is cranking up The Who’s ‘I Can See for Miles’ when the first downhill skier leaves the start house at the Kitzbuhel Hahnenkahm,” writes Bob Best. “He’s exceeding 100 kph within a few seconds and hanging on for dear life. Breath-taking and head-banging at the same time.”
AND THAT’S NOT HEALTHY, IS IT.
28 min Holding and Haaland have spent most of the first half re-enacting WrestleMania IV. So far, Holding is winning.
Photograph: Jeffrey Asher/Getty Images
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27 min After a cautious start, the game is starting to liven up a peedie bit.
25 min: Just wide from De Bruyne! That’s more like it from City. De Bruyne cuts inside from the right, 25 yards from goal, and shapes a delicious left-footed curler that flashes just wide of the far post. Turner wouldn’t have saved it.
23 min “Completely different mood, but here’s my favourite version of Blue Moon, by Canadian band Cowboy Junkies,” says Liz White. “They also do an extremely moody cover of Sweet Jane.”
21 min: Very good save from Ortega! Saka and Vieira moved the ball smoothly across the field to leave Trossard one on one with Lewis on the left side of the area. He beat Lewis with a pretty simple stepover and blasted a left-footed shot across goal that was beaten away by the flying Ortega. That’s a much better save than the first one.
20 min “I sometimes watch Everton with the sound down if I don’t want to hear commentary about how turgid and unimaginative their play is,” says Matt Burtz. “Let’s just say I’ve been doing that a lot this season.”
The volume button on your TV hasn’t worked since 2017 and we all know it.
19 min Wake me up when something happens. City are just passing the ball around in their own half, it’s a bit strange.
18 min “Listening to What’s the Frequency, Kenneth? earlier got me listening to a few other tracks on Monster,” says Charlie Robinson. “If I remember correctly, it was a bit of a damp squib and is now half-forgotten, coming as it did after Automatic for the People and Out of Time, but there are some bangers on there, not least, er, Bang and Blame.
“I was 17 years old and worked in the music department at our local WH Smiths at the time, and we got loads of promotional material for the release of the album, and I was very happy to walk away with a 5 foot tall and extremely heavy cardboard cut-out of the monster’s head from the front cover, which I somehow managed to drag home and attach to my bedroom wall! However, I do believe, if I may say, that the greatest forgotten and underrated REM album is New Adventures in Hi-Fi.”
I suppose Monster was the beginning of the ‘return to form’ years, though I agree with you – I listen to it in its entirety much more than any of their other post-Automatic for the People albums. But I shall give New Adventures in Hi-Fi a fresh shake.
17 min City are dominating the ball but the tempo of their play is very slow.
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14 min Xhaka’s free-kick is only half cleared by the backpedalling Rodri. Partey keeps the ball alive and Saka hits a snap-shot from 15 yards that is blocked.
12 min “A few weeks back, I had the 3pm Liverpool kick-off on and the snooker on the telly, with the sound down,” says Gillian Kirby. “Is that any better? Of course, I still harbour dreams of Micah Richards and/or Roy Keane getting to commentate on a tense Selby vs Lisowski fixture one day.”
What is wrong with you people?
9 min: Chance for City! Akanji’s slow pass forward is missed by Holding, which allows Haaland to run through on goal. Turner charges out his area to slide tackle Haaland, with the ball bouncing up in the air. Haaland improvises an overhead kick from about 30 yards – it’s on target but Tomiyasu has plenty of time to get back and clear the danger.
Holding thought he was fouled by Haaland; either way, it wasn’t great defending.
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8 min The tempo of the game has been surprisingly slow, particularly with City in possession.
7 min “Blue Moon is a song nearly impossible to muck up, the best club anthem,” writes Kári Tulinius. “But the pop-punk version they play before kickoff now must have Rodgers and Hart spinning in their graves. I’m not very prone to nostalgia, but club anthems should be sung by the fans in the stadium.”
They should mix it up and play the Kendal Johansson version from time to time. It might not set an appropriate pre-match mood, I’ll give you that, but by jove it’s beautiful.
5 min: Good save from Ortega! Arsenal have started really confidently. Trossard runs at the backpedalling Stones and clips a cross towards Tomiyasu, running onto the ball at the edge of the area. He hammers a shot towards goal and Ortega dives to his right to push it away.
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4 min I haven’t a clue what formation City are playing. It looks like 3-2-2-3 with the ball, 4-2-1-3 without it. I’m out of my element, I can’t lie to you.
3 min A dodgy pass from Turner is nicked by Gundogan, 35 yards from goal. After a few quick passes from Haaland and De Bruyne, Rodri shoots high over the bar from distance.
2 min Haaland goes over on the edge of the Arsenal area after a wrestling match with Holding. The referee gives a foul… to Arsenal. They both had a piece of each other’s shirt, though the City players were fuming with the decision.
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1 min Peep peep!
“As an Arsenal fan, I have relatively fresh memories of Arsenal leading the table for biggest part of the season only to drop off to third or fourth place in the crunching months of February and March,” says Admir Pajic. “This season bears a lot of comparisons with 2007-08 when Arsenal were five and eight points clear ahead of Man U and Chelsea respectively after Game 26 only to finish third. Mind you, not even ‘let’s throw away the FA Cup thing and focus on winning the league’ strategy worked well as we got trounced 4-0 at Old Trafford for, as it turned out, nothing.”
Funnily enough they just mentioned that on ITV. But I’d argue that the Eduardo game was the turning point of that season, and it’s very hard to foresee or prepare for something like that. But from memory that Birmingham draw was the first of four in a row which really undermined their season. How this Arsenal team deal with their first blip – if they have one – will be so important.
The players are ready, the managers have just had a businesslike embrace on the sideline. Let’s crack on.
“I have been in the ‘mute the telecast listen to music’ school for decades!” says Joe Pearson. “Starting early today with Soul Coughing’s utterly bizarre ‘Ruby Vroom’. Rock on!”
I love music but I can’t be having this. It’s the football-watching equivalent of a deep-fried Mars bar.
“ITV has just shown Pep giving a masterclass of top-flight burlesque in the pre-match interview,” says Charles Antaki. “Two parts mumbling Marlon Brando, one part Norman Wisdom gurning, and the most enthusiastic part stereotyped Continental shrugging, pouting, and headshaking. All in the excellent service of saying absolutely nothing.”
And so does Pep
It’s a good night for, I hope, a great football game. [What do you think about the Arsenal selection?] I don’t know, ask Mikel. It’s his decision. [A few more attempts to get Pep to talk about the Arsenal XI, which he ignores] It’s still a strong team, it’s Arsenal.
They control all departments [of the game] – set pieces, high pressing, defend deep. To do what they have done you have to be a really good side.
He really can’t abide pre-match interviews, can he.
🗣 “They control all departments and all aspects - set-pieces, high pressing, defending deep. To do what they have done, you have to be a really good side.”
— ITV Football (@itvfootball) January 27, 2023
Pep Guardiola is expecting a tough test from @Arsenal tonight…
🎤 @gabrielclarke05 pic.twitter.com/lQoDt6DhaH
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Mikel Arteta speaks
It’s a big opportunity. We’re playing against a top, top side and we have to prove that we have the level to compete and win the game. [What’s the thinking behind six changes?] That everybody needs game time, that they deserve game time the way they train every day.
[Why not play your best XI to see how they match up against City?] For different reasons, and because they were struggling after the Man Utd game. And the other players fully deserve to play. We still think we have a very competitive team. We’ll have to be at our best level to beat City today. [Will you have a drink with Pep afterwards?] For sure.
“Maybe it is just me,” writes Scott, “but a fight between Pep and Arteta would be the highlight of the day.”
Yeah, that’s the kind of thing nobody likes to see.
“The recent lauding of Martin Ødegaard – quite proper and fully deserved, of course, as any Arsenal fan will tell you – makes this an almost impossible gig for Fabio Vieira,” says Charles Antaki. “Yes, he has shown the odd twinkle and the occasional bit of niftiness, but not anything like the sustained brilliance of Ødegaard. You hope, at least for his sake, that he has a half-decent game, and that Arsenal win; otherwise, the question marks.”
Evening Roy.
“Looking forward to the match,” says Shane OLeary. I’ll have a sound-off telly, your commentary and the two underrated and transitional albums for Bolan and for Bowie in the headphones. (‘Zinc Alloy & The Hidden Riders Of Tomorrow - A Creamed Cage In August’ and ‘Diamond Dogs’). A good fit because City & Arsenal seem to be in transition at the moment and I’m hoping that Arsenal continue their development and that City continue to flail violently and elegantly against their loss of certainty.”
I’m all for novel ways to watch football, but listening to albums while watching the TV and reading commentary on the internet? I’d have a blinding headache by the end of Explosive Mouth.
“I found myself watching the video of REM’s 1994 rocker ‘What’s the Frequency, Kenneth?’ recently,” says Peter Oh. “When frontman Michael Stipe starts throwing shapes it instantly reminded me of the way Pep Guardiola moves when he prowls the touchline. That unmistakably angular, passionate, gangly, animated, contorted body language that only a rock star could pull off. The choreographers at the Etihad really should put a mic stand in the home technical area.”
And somebody needs to do a Venn diagram with Michael Stipe in one circle and David Brent in the other.
“As far as protecting the most important players,” says Zach Neeley, “glad to see Odegaard get a break but I would love to see Saka rested because he works so damn hard, and Partey because Arsenal are doomed without him.”
I think it’s quite a smart selection by Arteta. If Arsenal are hammered, he can rationalise it – six changes – and crack on with trying to win the league; and if they win away to a near full-strength City with this XI, it’ll be quite a statement. The worst-case scenario for Arteta, and the one that might have had a negative impact on their title challenge, was a full-strength Arsenal losing to a weakened City.
Team news: two changes for City, six for Arsenal
Pep Guardiola has picked a very strong City side, with only two changes from the team that beat Wolves last weekend. Stefan Ortega replaces Ederson in goal; Nathan Ake comes into the defence in place of Aymeric Laporte. We don’t yet know whether City will play 4-1-2-3 or Pep’s new favourite formation, 3-2-2-3.
Mikel Arteta has picked more of a hybrid Arsenal side, with six changes from the rousing win over Manchester United. Matt Turner, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Rob Holding, Kieran Tierney, Fabio Vieira and Leandro Trossard – making his full debut – replace Aaron Ramsdale, Ben White, William Saliba, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Martin Odegaard and Gabriel Martinelli. All six are on the bench, as is Arsenal’s other new signing Jakob Kiwior.
Manchester City (possible 4-1-2-3) Ortega; Lewis, Stones, Akanji, Ake; Rodri; De Bruyne, Gundogan; Mahrez, Haaland, Grealish.
Substitutes: Ederson, Walker, Dias, Phillips, Cancelo, Laporte, Alvarez, Bernardo, Palmer.
Arsenal (4-1-2-3) Turner; Tomiyasu, Holding, Gabriel, Tierney; Partey; Vieira, Xhaka; Saka, Nketiah, Trossard.
Substitutes: Ramsdale, White, Zinchenko, Saliba, Kiwior, Lokonga, Odegaard, Marquinhos, Martinelli.
Referee Paul Tierney.
Preamble
To coin a phrase, 391 days is a long time in football. When Manchester City last met Arsenal, pilfering a 2-1 win at the Emirates on New Year’s Day 2022, the landscape of English football was exceedingly different. Manchester City were the runaway leaders and Arsenal were brawling, ultimately in vain, for fourth place.
Thirteen months is a long time for two big teams to go without playing each other. In that period, and particularly since Arsenal’s flying start to the season, anticipation has grown for the next meeting between City and the emerging Mini-City. It should have happened in the Premier League on 19 October, but that game was postponed for reasons too boring to explain when you can just use a hyperlink like this to do the job.
The upshot is that City and Arsenal will meet at least three times in the next three months – tonight’s FA Cup fourth round tie, then a league game at the Emirates on 15 February and another (save the date because it could be all kinds of epic) at the Etihad on 26 April. There will also be a cup replay if they draw tonight.
The league games are the big ones, and it’s hard to know just what tonight’s game is all about. Is it a chance to make a statement in the title race? A cracking FA Cup tie in its own right? A test of squad depth? A test of Pep Guardiola and Mikel Arteta’s friendship? An inconvenience that it might be beneficial to lose, especially for Arsenal? The start of English football’s new favourite rivalry?
One thing we can all agree on: with a respectful nod to Brighton v Liverpool, this is emphatically the tie of the round.
Kick off 8pm.
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