City stay top of the league and unbeaten… just, after being frustrated by a very defensive Arsenal
Manchester City managed to rescue a point late on against Arsenal thanks to goals from Erling Haaland and John Stones. The 2-2 draw means that the Blues 100%-win record in the league is now over and they have dropped their first points of the season, but they will surely be happy with the overall result given the position that they were in for a large part of the game.
In stark contrast to the previous league fixture against Brentford, City made a very strong and positive start to the match. This followed some early concerns, with defensive midfielder Rodri going down with an apparent injury after just 11 seconds into the match following a challenge from Arsenal striker Kai Havertz. He shortly recovered and the Blues immediately began to dominate possession and attack with force.
With this momentum, it wasn’t long before the first goal went in for City, after just 9 minutes, when a through ball in from Savinho found Haaland, who slotted the ball past Raya to score his 100th goal for the blues. This also marked an incredible 10th goal after just five league match weeks, continuing his incredible form.
After Haaland’s opener, City were in the hunt for yet another goal, but it wasn’t long before problems emerged once more for the blues. In the 18th minute, Rodri was yet again down in the Arsenal area, injured. This time, the Spaniard could not continue and had to be subbed off for Mateo Kovacic, a major blow for City. Just as Kovacic came on to the pitch, an Arsenal pass forward towards Gabriel Martinelli caught Kyle Walker off guard, who had to track back as best he could to catch the Brazilian winger. Although City regrouped in the area, Martinelli passed the ball to Arsenal’s new summer signing, Italian international Riccardo Calafiori, who hit the ball first time from outside the area. Calafiori’s shot curled past the defence and into the net to level the scores for the Gunners.
This was a frustrating period of the match for City, who now no longer had Rodri and had also lost the lead. Nevertheless, City knew that they merely needed to remain positive and hoped that they would gain the lead by half time.
This however, turned out not to be the case. One minute into added time at the end of the first half, an Arsenal corner in from Bukayo Saka found the head of defender Gabriel, who also scored from a corner against Tottenham last week, to give Arsenal a 2-1 lead.
This moment marked a turning point in the match and set the stage for Arsenal’s defensive game plan which they would employ in the second half.
The final big moment in the first half came deep into added time and it was Arsenal who were on the receiving end. Belgian forward Leandro Trossard, who had already been booked for a foul, delayed the restart of play by kicking the ball away for a City free kick. Trossard was subsequently shown a second yellow by referee Michael Oliver and the half time whistle was then blown, with City trailing and Arsenal in the lead, but with a man down.
The second half was as many City fans, and likely the players, feared. Arsenal employed their defensive game plan against the blues and it had now become a near impossible mission to score. Shots from distance were either blocked straight away or went over the bar. Close calls such as shots from Haaland and Josko Gvardiol were saved by Raya, who made sure his hands were held very firm on the ball whenever he got control of it, much to the agitation of the City support, accusing the Spanish goalkeeper of time wasting.
The second half was also marred by delays, with Calafiori subbed off with a suspected injury and cramp for Raya and Gabriel, which added more injury time. Phil Foden and Jack Grealish came on for Savinho and Jeremy Doku, but City still struggled to find a way past what seemed to be an immovable object of an Arsenal defence.
City captain Walker made way for John Stones, who ultimately proved to be the difference in the end for City. With a minimum additional time of 7 minutes, in the 97th minute sharp, a blocked shot from Kovacic fell to Stones, who poked the ball off Raya and into the net to give City a late equaliser and provide a dramatic end to the game.
This was the last major moment of the match and the full-time score was 2-2.
City would’ve gone into the game wanting to win but will overall be satisfied with a point given how much they were made to work for it, not to mention the fact that they remain top of the league with 13 points, with the nearest opposition being Liverpool in 2nd with 12 points. The draw marked the 2nd time Arsenal dropped points this season and they now sit at 4th in the table with 11 points. Despite getting a result, Arsenal will overall be the more frustrated side, given their valiant defensive efforts in the second half only to concede late on and for City this provides somewhat a sense of relief as they were only moments away from what would’ve been a first loss of the season and the first loss at the Etihad to Mikel Arteta, which may well have proven crucial later in the season.