MANCHESTER — At the end of one of the great Premier League games, what do we have? Emphatic proof of Arsenal’s defensive prowess, as if it were needed. Manchester City’s indefatigability brought to life in John Stones becoming the first blue shirt in what felt like a lifetime to be second to a first ball. Most of all, perhaps this is the moment that a titanic rivalry truly kicked into gear.
Pep Guardiola and Mikel Arteta embraced at the final whistle as if this had all been a game to them, playing at hostilities as only friends can. Ahead of them on the Etihad field, there was nothing playful about the three or more set-tos between red and sky blue shirts. Over the 90 preceding minutes these players had developed what occasionally appeared to be a deep loathing for each other. A game that had lasted all of four seconds before the first stramash ended in the 98th minute, Erling Haaland cravenly lobbed the ball at the back of Gabriel’s head while the man who might have been Arsenal’s most remarkable match winner mourned a last-gasp hammer blow.
Perhaps the emnity had begun earlier than that. At the end of last season Rodri had made plenty of headlines in his assessment that Arsenal had not really wanted to win on their last visit to the home of the champions. Arteta and his players will doubtless have noted the gusto with which City celebrated their own point, one earned in spite of themselves after 52 minutes where they seemed to have no idea how to break down a 10-man block. Before all that, Rodri seemed destined to be the story of the game, he and Kai Havertz seemingly intent on manufacturing a collision with themselves from kickoff. Instead, the Spaniard was a red herring, though the injury he suffered early in the first half is as significant as an injury to the knee can be then it may that his collision with Thomas Partey is the incident that has the biggest impact on the title race.
“Rodri’s strong,” said Guardiola, who insisted he had not spoken to his club medical staff over the extent of the issue. “If he leaves the pitch, he felt something. Otherwise, he stays there.”
With Rodri in the side, City had been sensational, as good as they had been in years. He was far from the only player excelling but he was the star of the show. Not far behind was Savinho, whose brilliant first touch took him away from Riccardo Calafiori and created space for Haaland to attack. His 10th goal of the season, 100th in 105 City games was the inevitable outcome. Had Rodri stayed on the pitch, the hosts could have retained the control that leads to chances that good.
The Spaniard’s absence was keenly felt in numerous facets, a bit more height defending set plays, a player who can rocket the ball in from range. Without him, the champions looked beatable. They might well have been, albeit in contentious circumstances.
Michael Oliver would soon be thrust into the center of proceedings. First he summoned Kyle Walker up towards him, inadvertently creating space into which Arsenal unleashed Gabriel Martinelli. Guardiola was at pains to point out that City could have dealt with the danger, that Walker had got himself back into the defensive line before Martinelli rolled the ball back to Calafiori, who did well enough to get any left footed shot out with the ball in an awkward position out of his stride. What he got was a howitzer. Ederson never got close.
If Walker might have felt harshly done by for Arsenal’s first, he only had himself to blame for their second. Tasked with marking a player with more Premier League goals from corners since arriving in England than Manchester United, one who had already blown by Jeremy Doku, the City captain offered only a few pokes and play slaps. That is nowhere near enough to slow the relentless rumble of Gabriel to Bukayo Saka’s corner.
The stage was set for a better contest than the one the Etihad got. Arsenal’s belligerent rearguard and their sweating of the small stuff was remorselessly engaging, enough to make this an instant classic even if it did become a bit one note after the first half, the Hot Fuss of great Premier League games. The belligerence with which Arsenal defended their goal was absorbing in the extreme. Another 45 minutes of these two going at each other promised to be transcendent.
Arsenal had the lead, City the territory. Could Martinelli keep blowing past Walker? Would Calafiori be able to get a grip on Savinho? We will never know. By the letter of the law, Leandro Trossard kicked the ball away soon after Oliver had blown for a foul on Bernardo Silva. Arteta was among many to note that Doku had gone unpunished for similar earlier in the first half.
“It’s that obvious that it’s not necessary to comment on it,” Arteta said.
He would subsequently feel compelled to comment on it. This was the second time in three league games an Arsenal player had gotten a second yellow card for kicking the ball away. Referees had instructed players before the season began that this would be clamped down. They have so far not explained why all but the most egregious instances — few would contend Declan Rice’s or Trossard’s were that — needed to be addressed. No one within the game was crying out for something to be done about the scourge of balls being rolled a few feet away.
In light of referee chief Howard Webb pointing to more yellows that should have been given for kicking the ball away, Arteta is entitled to feel that from here on out any instance should result in a sanction. “I’m expecting 100 Premier League games to be, 10 against 11 or nine vs 10 this season,” he said, adding: “I want to be involved in a game at this level that puts the game in a situation that we can enjoy and talk about it in the proper way. We’re not talking about that. It’s clear. You haven’t asked me one single tactical question.”
In the media’s defense — and as one of those who did not pick apart the tactics — there was so much else to address. With a lead to protect, Ben White was sent on despite being injured. Arteta acknowledged afterward it would take “a miracle” for his side to get something from the game. “What I can tell you is 99 out of 100 times, if you play 56 minutes against this team with 10 men, you’re going to lose and you’re going to lose by a lot of goals.”
Instead, Arsenal were left to rue what might have been. Their 5-4-0 really did drive one of the best attacks in the world to a string of increasingly desperate long shots. That shot map above is what City created with a man advantage, 97% possession and some of the best attacking talent in the Premier League. Guardiola would note that City did a good job to keep the ball in play, to refuse to commit fouls that would allow their rhythm to be broken up but even he had to acknowledge that hit and hopes from Ruben Dias and Mateo Kovacic were not ideal end points for their attacks.
Ultimately one opening would break City’s way, auxiliary striker John Stones pouncing on the rebound after the last of Kovacic’s four shots had bounced around the penalty area. Cue jubilation in the Etihad Stadium, understandably so. They had been driven to distraction by Arsenal.
Havertz might not have completed a pass but he infuriated every City player he came into contact with. Walker was so frustrated with Martinelli in the first half that he feinted lobbing a ball at him. Haaland didn’t even feint. The ecstasy was all the greater because Arsenal had been infuriatingly cynical, every dead ball seemingly the prompt for a red shirt to cramp up. David Raya, in particular, engaged in such brazen gamesmanship to go with his spectacular saves that you half wondered if Emiliano Martinez had been back at his old digs.
City will remember all that, much as the Arsenal fire will be fuelled by the flashpoints before and after Stones’ dramatic late equalizer. What once threatened to be a tepid rivalry defined by mutual respect and overly similar tactics has now burst into life. The vestiges of the friendly rivalry are ash. February 1 and the meeting at the Emirates Stadium cannot come soon enough.
