Still no sign of the managers, so I’m going to wrap things up. We’ll have more reaction later; in the meantime here’s Dave Hytner’s match report. Ta-ra.
John Stones' reaction
You’re obviously frustrated when you don’t get to start in these big games. I tried to channel it and have a positive attitude if I came on. I tried to be inside the box for more crosses, and one dropped for me.
The manager wanted me to play closer to Erling to try to win a few aerial duels. It’s so interchangeable – everyone plays in pockets and our movement is so fluid. Luckily it feel for me and I’m really pleased to score a goal like that.
It was a difficult afternoon. Both teams showed a side of football that not many teams use – slow it down, get the keeper to go down so you can get instructions on. We have to stay calm and I think we did.
There were some silly decisions from everyone but it’s hard to digest it so soon after the final whistle.
I wouldn’t say Arsenal have mastered the dark arts. They’ve done it for a few years and we know to expect that. You can call it dirty or clever. They break up the game which upsets the rhythm when you’re trying to get momentum. I thought we dealt with it really well.
For the past few years we’ve had a rivalry [with Arsenal] that’s been growing, and which we want to always come out on top in, so to sit here with a point is difficult.
"It was a good battle today!" ⚔️
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) September 22, 2024
John Stones reacts after scoring a DRAMATIC 98th minute equiliser against Arsenal! 🎙️ pic.twitter.com/qyai55mKA4
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The second half stats
Shots 28-1
Passes in opposition half 363-35
Possession percentage 88-12
We’ll keep the blog running for a bit, mainly to hear Mikel Arteta’s interview. If Newcastle last season was desgracia, goodness knows what he’ll make of this.
(From memory the only clearly incorrect decision was to let Doku off when he kicked the ball away, but as a neutral I would say that.)
On Sky Sports, Roy Keane is now kicking off with Micah Richards. He spent about 90 seconds praising Gabriel and William Saliba, at which point Keane snapped: “They still conceded two goals.”
"Gabriel and Saliba were UNBELIEVABLE... just REMARKABLE"
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) September 22, 2024
"Arsenal have done well, but City were REALLY POOR!!"
Micah Richards and Roy Keane in disagreement over the outcome of Manchester City's draw with Arsenal 💬 pic.twitter.com/irDcs2zpm4
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Arsenal will be unhappy that Stones scored in the eighth of seven added minutes, though it’s fairly common for extra time to be added on. That said, their defensive performance in the second half was so impressive.
Jack Grealish deserves a lot of credit, because he beat White on the outside to win the corner that led to the goal, then took it very quickly. City were bizarrely reluctant to go at people in wide positions.
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Pep Guardiola and Mikel Arteta embrace at the final whistle. But that’s about the only bit of warmth between the teams. Pep is now giving the fourth official a mouthful, Erling Haaland and Gabriel Jesus look like they’re about to kick off.
Full time: Man City 2-2 Arsenal
I think we can now say Man City v Arsenal is a proper rivalry.
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90+10 min Right, first things first: the goal has been given. Arsenal kicked off, in the football sense, at which point Haaland ran straight into somebody and flattened them. He’s booked. This is exhilaratingly weird.
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This rivalry, which was very respectful until now, has completely exploded.
VAR check! For multiple offsides. Meanwhile, it’s kicking off on the pitch!
Grealish did really well, running Ben White to win a corner which he then took quickly. It was given back to Grealish, who poked it back to Kovacic on the edge of the area. His shot was desperately blocked, either by Raya or a defender, and Stones forced the loose ball through the diving Raya and into the roof of the net.
Apparently it kicked off between the benches after the goal as well.
"CITY ARE OUT OF JAIL!" 🤯
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) September 22, 2024
John Stones gets Manchester City's equaliser with mere seconds left to play! 💥 pic.twitter.com/owIr7jjkJn
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GOAL! Man City 2-2 Arsenal (Stones 90+8)
John Stones has equalised!!!!
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90+7 min A short backheader almost falls for Havertz, who seems to follow through into Ederson. No matter, Ederson didn’t make anything of it and City are attacking again.
90+6 min Bernardo’s slightly tame corner is claimed superbly by Raya, who is congratulated by like a goalscorer. He has looked so assured today.
90+6 min Gabriel Jesus is booked for stopping City from taking a corner, although he didn’t know much about it because he was on all fours.
90+4 min City have had 24 shots in the second half. I won’t insult your intelligence by telling you how many Arsenal have had.
90+3 min Haaland heads straight at Raya from 12 yards. City look broken.
90+2 min: Arsenal substitution Jurrien Timber, who was outstanding, is replaced by the 17-year-old Miles Lewis-Skelly. For his debut.
90+1 min “Arsenal are demonstrating… I think the word ends in ‘housery’,” says Gary Neville.
90+1 min Bernardo Silva is booked for dissent.
90 min Timber goes down with cramp. Raya tries to kick the ball out and doesn’t reach touch, and now the Arsenal physio has run on the field!
There will be seven minutes of added time, at least.
89 min A decent shot from Dias is blocked, then Haaland can only force a tame shot through to Raya. He was under all sorts of pressure from Arsenal’s back 17.
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88 min: Arsenal substitution Gabriel Jesus for Gabriel Martinelli.
87 min: Very good save by Raya! After a bit of head tennis in the Arsenal area, Gvardiol cracks an excellent first-time volley from the edge of the area. Raya gets down so smartly to his right to push it away.
85 min Bernardo Silva slaloms infield and tees up Dias, who smashes miles over the bar from 25 yards. He came out for the second half labouring under the misapprehension that his name is Arie Haan.
Martinelli was down, apparently with cramp, but Michael Oliver thought he was trying it on and allowed play to continue.
84 min Raya charges off his line to claim Akanji’s cross with ease. City don’t look like scoring; they haven’t created anything of note since the 62nd minute.
83 min Arsenal will go top if they hold on, which would give the victory even greater symbolism. City’s last defeat at home was against Brentford in November 2022.
Rice is booked for timewasting.
81 min Dias tries a quick pass into the area for Kovacic, but there’s no eye in the Arsenal needle. There isn’t even a needle.
It’s surprising how little City have tried to get round the back in wide positions. They just keep passing it back and forth before someone blooters over the bar from 25 yards.
That said, Arsenal’s defending has been outstanding: the determination, the concentration, the whole shebang.
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79 min Now Kovacic swishes over the bar from 25 yards. What are City up to? That’s their 14th shot from outside the box in the second half alone.
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79 min: Double substitution for City John Stones and Jack Grealish replace Kyle Walker and Savinho. That may mean a switch to 3-2-2-3 with Stones in midfield alongside Kovacic.
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78 min Gundogan feeds a pass into Haaland, who has just enough space to turn and rifle a drive from 15 yards that is blocked.
Moments later, Foden slithers into the area and shoots high and wide from a tight angle. They’ve picked some poor options in the second half.
76 min Another long-range from Dias is easily saved by Raya. Not really sure what that’s all about. City’s defenders – only the defenders – have had at least six long-range shots in the second half.
76 min “If Arsenal do go on to win this,” begins Eagle Brosi, “Arteta should walk into the press conference and call himself ‘The Special One.’”
Or stroll into it wearing an Inter Milan 2009-10 away kit.
75 min All of a sudden Arsenal find themselves 15 minutes away from a famous victory. In the circumstances they have managed this second half extremely well.
74 min: Arsenal substitution Kiwior on, Calafiori off.
73 min Calafiori goes down. The home fans think he’s wasting time but Jakub Kiwior is getting ready to replace him.
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72 min Another long-range from Dias takes a deflection – that must be what City are playing for – but bounces gently through to Raya.
72 min “Myles Lewis-Skelly has now got more yellow cards than minutes in the Prem, which is a statistic anyone should be proud of,” says Matthew Richman.
That’s going in The Knowledge this week.
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71 min Arsenal send everyone forward for the free-kick, which almost leads to a chance for Calafiori. His touch is too heavy but City can’t take advantage and break while Arsenal are short at the back.
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70 min Dias commits a silly foul on Havertz, which allows Arsenal to waste 45 seconds in the City half.
69 min: Man City substitution Now Savinho whistles a shot over the bar from 25 yards. Before the goalkick is taken, Phil Foden replaces Jeremy Doku. I’m surprised we haven’t seen Rico Lewis come on for one of the back four. What do I know?
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67 min Timber, who has had an extremely good game, makes a risky but ultimately good sliding tackle on Doku just inside the penalty area. Michael Oliver points to the ball, and on we go.
City, for all their pressure, have only drawn one really difficult save from David Raya since half-time.
66 min “A referee doing their job properly is making the best calls possible based on what is seen in the moment,” says Eric Peterson. “Period. I’m not so naive to think this hasn’t always been a part of the game, but I am frustrated at how far we’ve come with players treating a first caution as a commodity, a free hit, a mulligan, rather than the warning it’s meant to be. If a player is going to manage how they play the game in this manner, then they have to be prepared to be an adult and accept the risks, including the consequences of that strategy backfiring on them.”
That ship sailed a long time ago, sadly.
64 min City’s bench options include Phil Foden, Jack Grealish and Rico Lewis. No sign of any of them coming on just yet.
Meanwhile, David Raya has decided to have a sit down, which allows both managers to give an impromptu team talk. How do you prove he’s cheating?
While Raya receives treatment, Michael Oliver books one of the Arsenal substitutes, possibly Myles Lewis-Skelly.
63 min At time Arsenal’s shape is closer to 6-3-0, with Martinelli as the left-back as Calafiori as a fourth centre-half. One thing’s for sure: Erling Haaland won’t be charging through any gaps like he did for the opening goal.
62 min David Raya makes another save. A corner is only half cleared, and Gvardiol raps a snapshot from 12 yards. It’s at Raya’s feet but he still gets down to knock the ball up in the air and then grab it at the second attempt.
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61 min “If only,” says Niall Mullen, “there was some part of the process of a player kicking the ball away and getting booked for it that was in the player’s control.”
60 min Passes in the opposition half since the break: Manchester City 114-2 Arsenal.
All Arsenal care about is what happens when you take away the 1 and the 4.
59 min: Good save by Raya! City take a short corner on the right. Walker flips a cross beyond the far post, where Haaland leaps miles above Saliba to power a header back across goal. Raya changes direction to paw it away, an excellent save, and then the off-balance Bernardo Silva shoots over the bar.
58 min A stinging shot from Walker, 20 yards out, is beaten away by Raya. This is a fascinating gamble from Mikel Arteta. He hasn’t just parked the bus, he’s taken the engine out and put it on eBay.
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57 min Doku wins a corner and takes it quickly. It’s half cleared to Akanji, whose shot deflects behind for another.
56 min Arsenal are defending so deep, with five across the line of the penalty spot and four more on the edge of the area.
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55 min “Mid-Wenger Arsenal were pretty good at playing with 10 men too,” says Angus Chisholm. “Remember the 3 - 2 comeback against Bolton?”
I do now! The first seven or eight years, though, they had an insanely good record.
54 min Dias blooters wide from 25 yards. Arsenal will be very happy if City are reduced to efforts like that. They’ve barely had a kick since half-time but, crucially, David Raya has barely had a touch.
52 min They don’t. Bernardo Silva’s free-kick is overhit.
51 min Calafiori trips Savinho just outside the area on the right. Michael Oliver doesn’t give it, then changes his mind after the assistant puts his flag up. Arsenal will be thrilled if City equalise from this.
51 min As a neutral I think there’s something quite admirable about Mikel Arteta’s unashamed pragmatism. When he first took over at Arsenal I assumed he was just another new-age romantic, but he couldn’t care less about going to 5-4-0 and wasting as much time as possible.
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50 min “I understand the argument against being more lenient when a player is on a yellow, that the rules should be applied consistently without eye to context,” says Zach Neeley. “But for both these Arsenal reds, it seems like the rule is more lenient if you aren’t on a yellow but if you are, they have to give you a second, and that makes the least sense to me.”
Weren’t they just mistakes rather than inconsistent application of the law?
49 min Now Kovacic shoots over from 22 yards after a cutback from Bernardo Silva. It bounced up awkwardly.
48 min Walker pings a flat cross towards the far post, where Haaland gets above Saliba and heads straight at Raya. Saliba did well to ensure Haaland couldn’t get a run at the ball.
47 min These are the revised line-ups for what is likely to be an extended training session: City attack v Arsenal defence.
Manchester City (4-1-2-3) Ederson; Walker, Akanji, Dias, Gvardiol; Kovacic Bernardo, Gundogan; Savinho, Haaland, Doku.
Arsenal (5-4-0) Raya; Timber, White, Saliba, Gabriel, Calafiori; Havertz, Partey, Rice, Martinelli.
46 min Arsenal begin the second half. White has gone to play as the right centre-back in what is essentially a 5-4-0 formation. Havertz is playing from the right, Martinelli is on the left.
Half-time substitution Arsenal are bringing on Ben White for… Bukayo Saka. Interesting. It looks like a back five straight from the off.
A few of you have suggested Michael Oliver didn’t have to send Trossard off. Isn’t it a pretty clear edict? If Oliver doesn’t book him, he gets marked down, loses his job and by 2025 he’s working as a barista in Whitstable.
That said, we’ve just seen footage of Doku kicking the ball away seconds before Trossard’s first yellow card. Arsenal will understandably be aggrieved about that.
"If he can't pass it to be Rice he shouldn't be playing football!"
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) September 22, 2024
Did Jeremy Doku get away with this one in the first half 🧐 pic.twitter.com/nUMsj7ocy8
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“Arsenal need to channel the early Wenger-era sides,” says Tanay Padhi, “who were masters of playing with a man down.”
They were amazing, weren’t they? Who knows, maybe this will be their Anfield 2001.
Half-time reading
“Astounding, incomprehensible stupidity from Trossard,” says Charles Antaki, and he’s an Arsenal fan. “The only explanation is that his water bottle was contaminated with lead, which is known to reduce IQ by significant percentage points. He seems to have somehow managed to drink several gallons of it over the course of the first half.”
“There were nearly ten seconds between the referee having a word and the free kick being taken,” says Will Vignoles. “You’d think a defender of Walker’s vast experience, who is famously quick, might have used that time to get back in position, no?”
Half time: Man City 1-2 Arsenal
Last season, the games between City and Arsenal were dull and duller. Today’s first half was the complete opposite: utterly, at times disgustingly compelling.
City started magnificently and took the lead through a devastating goal from Erling Haaland. Then Rodri got injured, Riccardo Calafiori scored a stunning and controversial equaliser and the mood changed.
Gabriel headed Arsenal in front from a corner that was almost impossible to defend. But the mood changed again on the stroke of half time when Leandro Trossard was sent off for kicking the ball away.
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45+9 min Trossard finally leaves the field after about 60 seconds of chuntering. Arteta puts his arm round him before he walks down the tunnel.
Trossard is sent off!
45+8 min The plot thickens. Trossard, booked earlier in the game, barges Bernardo Silva over and then kicks the ball away. Mikel Arteta is waving his hands around in frustration but those are the rules. Having said that, I’m pretty sure Doku did the same earlier in the half without being booked.
We’ll hear plenty about it, either way. Arteta is fuming.
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45+7 min Partey is booked for a sliding foul on Gundogan (I think). An easy decision.
45+5 min “I willingly take back my prophecy that Arteta’s strategy was equivalent to having a plan until you got hit in the face,” says Charles Antaki. “It was all a masterpiece of planning, and allowing Haaland to get the first goal was a sophisticated gambit that Capablanca or Kasparov would have been proud of.”
45+4 min As Gary Neville stresses on Sky, Saka’s delivery for both Gabriel chances was nigh-on perfect.
45+3 min Blimey.
45+2 min There was a VAR check for a potential foul by Martinelli on Ederson, but the goal stands. Martinelli knew what he was doing, no question, but all he really did was stand his ground. With the current threshold it was never going to be overturned.
Ruben Dias has been booked, presumably for dissent.
"Saka takes... GABRIEL'S IN THERE!" 🔗
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) September 22, 2024
Arsenal lead at the Etihad! 🔴 pic.twitter.com/MdliWu94MY
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It was exactly the same corner as the one in the 38th minute, but this time Gabriel got the header on target. He lost Kyle Walker – who was playing silly buggers before the corner was taken, patting Gabriel repeatedly – far too easily near the penalty spot. Saka again put the ball right under the crossbar, Ederson was blocked by Martinelli and Gabriel roared onto the scene to head in from three yards.
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GOAL! Man City 1-2 Arsenal (Gabriel 45+1)
If at first you don’t succeed…
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45 min Saka releases the overlapping Rice, who wins another corner for Arsenal. They’re dominating the game just now.
44 min City have lost much of their snap since the equaliser, though they are still dominating possession. Half-time will come at a good moment for them.
42 min: Chance for Arsenal! Gabriel decides to play Beckenbauer, strolling forward and sliding a slick return pass to release Martinelli on the left. He gets behind Walker and cuts the ball back sharply to Trossard, who shoots over from 15 yards on the stretch. It was an awkward ball to take first time but we’ve seen Trossard score not dissimilar chances in the past.
Martinelli has been Arsenal’s most dangerous attacker by a fair distance.
41 min “I’d like to know what the ref said during that break,” says Mark Childs. “Walker (and Saka) has just been instructed as captain ‘tell your players to calm down’, then shouldn’t he be given the time to do so?”
I don’t know about that, but he should have been given more time to get back to right-back. You can understand why City were so angry.
40 min City have had 72 per cent of the possession, which is remarkable, although Arsenal are probably having their best spell of the half as I type.
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38 min: Chance for Arsenal! Saka curls a fantastic inswinging corner to the far post, where Gabriel heads over from barely four yards. What a chance! Ederson was out of the game, on the floor after running into Martinelli, so Gabriel only needed to get over the ball to score.
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37 min Timber plays a good return pass to Saka, forcing Gvardiol to concede a corner. It’s Arsenal’s first, I think, and we know how dangerous they are at set-pieces.
36 min Doku gets involved for the first time, playing a quick give-and-go with Gvardiol before hitting a shot from the edge of the area that deflects behind. Savinho’s inswinger is headed away by Havertz.
34 min One big plus for Arsenal is that Timber has played Doku beautifully so far. Talking of Doku, he seems to kick the ball away but isn’t booked by Michael Oliver.
Trossard is given a yellow card for a tactical foul on Savinho. No argument with that.
32 min We’ve just seen a replay of the Arsenal goal. Kyle Walker was fuming because the referee called him and Bukayo Saka over in their role as captains, then allowed Arsenal to release Martinelli from the free-kick before Walker was able to get back.
Walker was also a bit slow to return to his position before the free-kick was taken. I can see both sides!
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31 min Arsenal’s goal was a thing of peculiar beauty but that aside they have done very little in possession. They’ve defended a lot deeper since Haaland’s goal and are doing that part pretty well.
30 min A crisp 30-yarder from Walker is saved comfortably by Raya, diving to his right.
29 min Savinho beats Calafiori again and crosses early towards Haaland. Saliba gets across to make an important header. Calafiori has had a pretty torrid time in his day job, but his side hustle is going swimmingly.
28 min After a couple of minutes of frothing and foaming, City have picked up where they left off before Rodri’s injury. There’s still a spiteful edge to the match though, and there’s a fair chance it won’t end 1-1 or 11v11.
27 min “I know you’ve got the pace to handle Haaland, but isn’t he a bit taller than you?” says Joe Pearson. “No offence.”
Yeah but you know what they say: the first two feet are in the head.
26 min Imagine.
"It's a BEAUTY!" 😍
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) September 22, 2024
What a moment for Riccardo Calafiori! 🤯 pic.twitter.com/B56ZJC88mu
25 min Well that’s changed the mood. Until that point City had been rampant.
24 min It’s very rare that a player finds the top corner with an outswinger rather than an inswinger. Even rarer when it’s a left-back making his full debut.
City are furious about something but Riccardo Calafiori has just scored a screamer on his full debut. Partey took a quick free kick to find Martinelli in space on the left. He made good ground, then cut inside and laid the ball back to Calafiori just outside the area. Calafiori walked onto the ball and curled an extravagant left-foot shot that beat Ederson and nestled in the far corner. What a goal!
Pep Guardiola kicks a seat in frustration, while Ederson has been booked. City weren’t happy because they thought the free-kick was taken 10 yards away from where the original foul took place.
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GOAL! Man City 1-1 Arsenal (Calafiori 22)
What the hell has just happened?
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21 min: Man City substitution Mateo Kovacic replaces Rodri and immediately dispenses some three-fingered tactical advice.
The break allows Michael Oliver to have a word with both captains. It has been a very niggly start to the game.
21 min “Just as the Great White Shark is a brutal, efficient hunter killer, so Haaland is regarding scoring goals,” says Mary Waltz. “Who can stop him?”
Me, but Mikel won’t answer my bloody WhatsApps.
20 min Rodri is on his feet and limping very slowly to the touchline. His afternoon is over; let’s just hope it isn’t a serious injury.
18 min Rodri is sitting up now but looks pretty distressed – more, I suspect, because of the nature of the damage rather than the actual pain. He jarred his right leg as he fell and immediately clutched it when he hit the floor.
17 min The players were jockeying for position at a corner. Partey was tracking Rodri, they collided and then Rodri fell really awkwardly. I fear he has injured knee ligaments.
16 min Rodri is down again, this time holding the back of his leg. The City players have called for the physio. This doesn’t look good at all.
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16 min Arsenal are under all kinds of pressure, and at the moment this game feels more 2022-23 than 2023-24.
15 min: Gundogan hits the post! It was a fine free-kick, curled round the side of the wall. Raya flew desperately to his left and the ball thumped off the outside of the post. Had that been on target I think it would have gone in.
14 min The impressive Savinho is fouled 20 yards out by Gabriel. It’s a fair way to the right of centre, but not enough to rule out a shot. Savinho and Gundogan are over the ball…
12 min City look bang up for this, almost as if they are the hunters rather than the hunted.
11 min Last season Erling Haaland didn’t have a shot on target against Arsenal in either league game. That was then and this is now. That was such a good goal. The turn from Savinho to lose Calafiori was delicious, Haaland’s first-time finish almost disdainful.
Erling Haaland scores his 10th Premier League goal of the season and 100th goal for Manchester City! 🤯⚡ pic.twitter.com/SW3FLx1mJf
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) September 22, 2024
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What a fantastic goal. It was made by Savinho, who turned Calafiori thrillingly on the halfway line, darted infield and slid a perfectly weighted pass into the space between Saliba and Gabriel. Haaland was too quick for the pair of them and toebunged the ball impatiently past Raya from 12 yards. Ruthless and brilliant.
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GOAL! Man City 1-0 Arsenal (Haaland 9)
Erling Haaland scores his 100th goal for Manchester City!
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7 min: Chance for City! Bernardo Silva, on the right, curls a fast cross towards Gundogan on the edge of the D. He flips the ball beautifully over Gabriel on the run, only to slash a volley wide from 10 yards. As Gary Neville says on Sky, the first touch was the harder part.
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7 min We still haven’t seen a decent angle of that Rodri/Havertz incident. It may well just have been a collision, but for a few seconds it looked like Havertz might be sent off in record time.
5 min As for the actual football, both teams are pressing high up the field when they can. The ball is a bit of a hot potato.
4 min Now Haaland flattens Saliba, jumping for a high ball he was never going to win. Michael Oliver settles for a free-kick.
4 min Arsenal have started with the same system they used at Spurs last week, with Havertz and Trossard playing as a pair of false nines.
2 min Rodri is back on his feet and pointing a finger, presumably at Havertz. The incident has been cleared by VAR. The images aren’t great so there’s no evidence that Havertz raised an arm or anything like that, though Rodri was clearly unhappy.
This is really weird. City played the ball back to Ortega, and Havertz ran straight into Rodri. It’s being checked by VAR but the camera angles aren’t great.
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1 min Rodri has gone down holding his face after barely 5 seconds.
1 min After a minute’s applause for the late Sir Howard Bernstein, City get the game under way. If you like to picture these things, they’re kicking from left to right.
“This is such a copy-and-paste game,” says Jeff Sax. “For the last two seasons the same things have been written about both teams, and the result has been the same. If this isn’t boring, what is?”
That’s not strictly true, unless you mean the outcome at the end of the season. The last four league games have all been different:
Arsenal 1-3 Man City
Man City 4-1 Arsenal
Arsenal 1-0 Man City
Man City 0-0 Arsenal
As the players take the field, here’s a reminder of the teams.
Manchester City (possible 4-1-2-3) Ederson; Walker, Akanji, Dias, Gvardiol; Rodri; Bernardo, Gundogan; Savinho, Haaland, Doku.
Substitutes: Ortega Moreno, Carson, Stones, Kovacic, Grealish, Nunes, Foden, Lewis, McAtee.
Arsenal (possible 4-2-4-0) Raya; Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Calafiori; Partey, Rice; Saka, Havertz, Trossard, Martinelli.
Substitutes: Neto, White, Lewis-Skelly, Kiwior, Kacurri, Jorginho, Nwaneri, Sterling, Jesus.
Referee Michael Oliver.
Bukayo Saka will captain Arsenal today. Martin Odegaard, Jorginho and Gabriel Jesus – who wore the armband against Atalanta in midweek – are all either injured or on the bench.
Mikel Arteta’s pre-match thoughts
We have a gameplan, but then the opponent does certain things that either allows you play in areas you want to or not... You have to deliver with the ball.
Pep Guardiola’s pre-match thoughts
We talked a little bit about quick transitions and attacking spaces; last season we didn’t do that, so we’ll see. Today is a new opportunity to do it better.
Milestone reached.
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) September 22, 2024
Thomas Partey is set to complete a century of Premier League appearances 👏 pic.twitter.com/t6TWr7OgHd
The early Premier League game was a thriller, with four goals and both managers being sent off at the Amex Stadium.
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Read Pep Guardiola on Arsenal and that other business
If you are pressing [then it is] long balls, they win the second balls. In the final third they have the ability to play 1,000 million passes and find the pockets and find the right space. If they can run, they can run. Martinelli, Saka, Ødegaard and whatever.
They are a top team because all the departments that a team needs to be solid, they do it. They are good at that. But we are good, too.
Barney Ronay on City’s charges
It is still hard to see any outcome that genuinely benefits the Premier League. Three things can happen from this point. First, City are found guilty and punished to a significant degree. This would represent a potential disaster for the Premier League, which would find its entire recent history discredited, its broadcast rights undermined and integrity open to question. It would also leave a champion club, the richest in the world, in a state of open, vengeful warfare with their own co-members. Hello? Is that the Super League? Yeah. Are we still on?
Irresistible force, meet immovable object
Here’s Mikel Arteta’s take on today’s game
We all know we need a big performance to beat them… We want to improve in certain areas but in order to do that it’s important that we have to be much, much better. We have been really open about discussing that. But the chances have to be created because the process has to be good.
Jonathan Wilson reflects on that 0-0 draw in March
There is, of course, no definitive answer. Had Arsenal opened up, that might have handed a chance to City, lifted them above Arsenal and had everybody condemning Arteta for his hubris. It’s not a case of right and wrong but, with hindsight, and given that at the time of the Arsenal game, City hadn’t won any of eight matches against the sides who would finish in the top six, might that have been an opportunity missed?
“Morning and breakfast greetings from California,” writes Mary Waltz. “Yes, its way too early to say this, but just from a confidence standpoint isn’t it a must win for Arsenal to show they are on the same level as City?”
Erm, wouldn’t a draw do that? I don’t think it’s a must-anything for either team, although it’s probably more important for Arsenal that they don’t lose.
Pep Guardiola on Rico Lewis (who he has left out today)
You ask any player: ‘What is your position?’ And they say: ‘I play holding midfielder. I play winger. I play that.’ Rico plays football. If you put him in one position, he knows exactly what he has to do. He’s so intelligent… I’ve been a manager for 14, 15 years, training unbelievable players. To find one like him in the pockets, he is one of the best I’ve ever trained.
Team news: Calafiori starts
Both managers have had a bit of a tinker. Pep Guardiola brings in Kyle Walker, Ilkay Gundogan and Jeremy Doku for Rico Lewis, the injured Kevin De Bruyne and the uninjured Jack Grealish.
Riccardo Calafiori makes his full Arsenal debut, probably at left-back, with Ben White only on the bench. The omission of White is a big surprise, though there are suggestions he has a minor injury. Jurrien Timber will move across to right-back. Leandro Trossard comes in for Gabriel Jesus up front.
Manchester City (possible 4-1-2-3) Ederson; Walker, Akanji, Dias, Gvardiol; Rodri; Bernardo, Gundogan; Savinho, Haaland, Doku.
Substitutes: Ortega Moreno, Carson, Stones, Kovacic, Grealish, Nunes, Foden, Lewis, McAtee.
Arsenal (possible 4-2-4-0) Raya; Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Calafiori; Partey, Rice; Saka, Havertz, Trossard, Martinelli.
Substitutes: Neto, White, Lewis-Skelly, Kiwior, Kacurri, Jorginho, Nwaneri, Sterling, Jesus.
Referee Michael Oliver.
Updated
Preamble
You can usually judge the health of a league by its biggest rivalry. Think AC Milan v Napoli in the late 1980s, Man Utd v Arsenal at the turn of the century and Barcelona v Real Madrid when Pep and Jose were in charge. Manchester City v Arsenal isn’t quite in that category, probably never will be, but it would make a worthy Champions League final and that’s a very good starting point for any football-based ding-dong.
This is season three of a rivalry that began when Arsenal knocked Liverpool off the perch reserved for City’s biggest challengers. City gave Arsenal a brutal introduction to life at the highest level, belting them home and away in 2022-23, but last season the only City player to score against Arsenal was Cole Palmer in the Community Shield.
The two league games were cagey and relatively uneventful. Gabriel Martinelli’s late goal gave Arsenal a 1-0 win at the Emirates; the return game in March was a 0-0 draw in name and nature, so much so that I genuinely had to check whether I’d liveblogged it or not.
History has recorded that Arsenal needed to win that game, even though they were ahead of City in the table at the time. Paradoxically, most people think a draw would be fine today, even though they’re behind City. Different stage of the season, different context, different Erling Haaland.
One thing hasn’t changed. City v Arsenal is the biggest game in the biggest league in the world. And that makes it pr-etty, pr-etty big.
Kick off 4.30pm.
