Even the late 2-2 equalizer did little to appease the defending champions: After a heated Premier League top-flight game, Manchester City accused Arsenal of “black magic”.
If it had been just a few seconds longer, Arsenal would not only have been the new leaders of the Premier League, but would also have inflicted Manchester City’s first home defeat since November 2022. But even after Sunday evening’s 2-2 draw, Mikel Arteta was right in his analysis: he spoke of a “miracle”.
After Leandro Trossard was shown a yellow-red card for a foul in the first half due to the ball being hit away in injury time, the Gunners had to play the entire second half, including nine minutes of injury time, with ten men. ManCity had 28 shots after the break, Arsenal 12.5 percent possession, Kai Havertz six passes, none of which found a teammate. “It’s incredible what we did,” Arteta said. “If you play 56 minutes with ten men against this team, you will lose 99 out of 100 times – and by a lot.”
This time, however, Pep Guardiola had to bring on John Stones as a kind of second striker alongside Erling Haaland in the 78th minute in order to salvage at least a point and thus retain the lead in the table. The defender, who had played as a defender, scored from a corner when the added time had already expired. However, neither he nor any of the other ManCity players felt the urge to acknowledge Arsenal’s heroic defensive performance.
“There was only one team that came to play football,” grumbled Bernardo Silva, for example. ”The other came to play at the limit of what is possible and allowed by the referee – unfortunately. I’m glad we’re the kind of team that always go out and try to win every game.” Kyle Walker spoke of Arsenal using “dark arts”, i.e. something like “black magic”. Because, of course, the visitors had used every opportunity to play for time.
Goal scorer Stones criticizes Arsenal: “They’ve been doing this for a few years”
“They slow the game down,” said a frustrated Stones. “I wouldn’t say they’ve perfected it, but they’ve been doing it for a few years now. So we knew to expect it. You can call it clever or dirty,” he said, and everyone could guess which faction Stones himself belongs to.
After the Gunners had already annoyed ManCity twice in the pre-season and held them to a 0-0 draw at home after a 1-0 lead at the Etihad, they are well on their way to taking on the role of Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool: They had repeatedly driven Guardiola’s team to despair over the years and had become a kind of nemesis in the title race.
Only that Liverpool “always tried to win in direct duels,” Bernardo Silva scoffed. And there is something else that distinguishes the two rivalries: “Liverpool have already won the Premier League, Arsenal have not. Liverpool have won the Champions League, Arsenal have not.”
