Morning all.

At the end, Man City celebrated their last gasp goal of the game as if it was the winner which in itself shows what they think of Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal and the threat they are to City’s dominance in this league.

Mikel Arteta rested Ben White yesterday meaning Jurrien Timber switched to the right and Riccardo Calafiori, starting for the first time since his summer move, slotting in at left back. As expected, Leandro Trossard returned to the side.

Gundogan had City’s first chance which he fired wide thankfully but it wasn’t long before Haaland scored. Savinho got past Calafiori, played a lovely ball into the path of Haaland and he slipped it past David Raya. Must admit, I feared the worst after conceding so early in the game and City had started really well. Gundogan then hit the woodwork from a free kick.

Twenty minutes in and Rodri went off injured. That’ll teach him to get too close to Thomas Partey. A quick free kick taken by our midfielder out to Gabriel Martinelli on the left, he cut the ball back to Calafiori. I doubt our Italian defender will hit a sweeter shot this season. A left footed strike which swung away from Ederson and into the top corner of the net.

We were more than a match for City at the time of equalising and we only got better. A fine corner from Bukayo Saka saw Gabriel nearly give us the lead but the Brazilian’s header went just over the bar. Trossard was next to see a chance fly over the bar. Just before halftime, another corner from Saka was perfectly crossed into the box. Walker, who’d been tasked with stopping Gabriel, thought poking him the stomach would be enough to distract him but he was wrong. Gabriel peeled away from his marker, rose high to head the corner past Ederson. 2-1 up and we were looking good. Very good.

Referee Michael Oliver must have been thinking about blowing for halftime when Trossard challenged Silva. Instead, he awarded City a free kick and as he blew his whistle, Trossard, already booked, kicked the ball away. When Oliver produced another yellow card followed by a red one, Arsenal players looked astonished. That red card must have been burning a hole in his pocket though because it was out in a flash – 0.84 seconds according to Sky Sports. What Oliver did was ruin what was until the dismissal, a very good game of football. Still, that was probably his plan all along.

Oliver had previously ignored City’s Doku for doing the same thing, again it was one rule for them and one for Arsenal. Mikel Arteta was livid.

We were more efficient and went 2-1 up and then there were two incidents, very similar, one in particular, but had a very different outcome which then forces you to have a game which nobody wants to watch. I think it’s very clear. Very obvious. Hopefully what 100 per cent of what people thinks. It’s not my job to come here and judge what happened. My job is to survive in the most difficult environment you can throw in football for 55 minutes. And try to get things done to survive. That’s my job, the rest is not my job. – Mikel Arteta

45 minutes of football with 10 men against City’s 11. It was backs to the wall football. Arsenal’s defence stayed compact and disciplined and City couldn’t find a way through so opted for shots from distance. Kovacic, Akanji and Walker tried but Arsenal stopped everything. David Raya was superb again, pushing away a header from Haaland and a couple of shots from Gvardial. Then, as the final minute of added time passed, City were award a corner and Arsenal’s defence was finally breached.

Of course it was disappointing to see Stones nab an equaliser right at the end of the game but my goodness, how hard did the ten men of Arsenal work throughout the second half? Stones can moan all he likes about Arsenal’s dirty tactics but he’s wrong. Arsenal did everything they could to ensure they came away from the Etihad with something. How can Timber be accused of time wasting late in the game when as he went to ground he signalled to the bench that he needed to go off. Yes, he might have been able to leave the pitch quicker but I suspect he wanted to make sure Miles Lewis-Skelly was ready to come on.

Man City are the masters of dark arts in the game, remember the Silva dive at The Emirates and the nasty challenges by Kovacic for which he should have been sent off for but wasn’t? For years Arsenal have been accused of being soft, lacking in defensive discipline and easy to be bullied. Well, that’s all changed now and I love it and the pundits, football writers and blokes like Stones can stick their opinions where the sun doesn’t shine.

Every one of those Arsenal players on the pitch yesterday afternoon should feel proud of themselves.

Catch up in the comments.

 

 

Discover more from Highbury House

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading