Manchester City vs. Arsenal rivalry born in Premier League classic that had everything you would want |Max Sporty|

MANCHESTER — At the end of one of the great games of the Premier League, what do we have? An emphatic demonstration of Arsenal’s defensive prowess, as if it were needed. Manchester City’s tirelessness lived on in John Stones becoming the first blue shirt in what felt like a lifetime of being second to first ball. Most of all, perhaps this is the moment when a titanic rivalry really kicked off.

Pep Guardiola and Mikel Arteta hugged at the final whistle as if this was all a game for them, playing hostilities as only friends can. In front of them on the Etihad pitch, there was nothing playful about the three or so sets between red and sky blue shirts. During the previous 90 minutes these players had developed what at times appeared to be a deep dislike for each other. A game that lasted all of four seconds before the first stramash ended in the 98th minute, Erling Haaland slyly lobbing the ball at the back of Gabriel’s head as the man who might have been Arsenal’s most remarkable match-winner mourned a last gasp hammer blow . .

Perhaps the emnity started earlier than that. At the end of last season Rodri made many headlines in his assessment that Arsenal did not really want to win in their last visit to the home of the champions. Arteta and his players will no doubt note the gusto with which City celebrated their own point, one earned in spite of themselves after 52 minutes where they didn’t seem to know how to break a 10-man block. Above 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 kick-off. Instead, the Spaniard was a red herring, although the injury he suffered early in the first half is as significant as a knee injury can be, so perhaps his clash with Thomas Partey is the incident that has the biggest impact on the title race

“Rodri is strong,” said Guardiola, who insisted he had not spoken to his club doctor about the extent of the problem. “If he leaves the pitch, he felt something. Otherwise, he stays there.”

With Rodri in the side, City were spectacular, as good as they have been in years. He was far from the only player to stand out 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 result. Had Rodri stayed on the pitch, the hosts could have maintained the control that leads to such good chances.

The absence of the Spaniard was keenly felt in many aspects, a little more height defending set pieces, a player who can rocket the ball 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 called Kyle Walker up to him, inadvertently creating space into which Arsenal released Gabriel Martinelli. Guardiola was at pains to point out that City could have dealt with the danger that Walker got himself back into the defensive line before Martinelli rolled the ball back to Calafiori, who did well enough to clear any left-footed shot with the ball in. awkward position outside his stride. What he got was a grenade. Ederson never came close.

If Walker may have felt harshly done 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 his arrival in England than Manchester United, who had already been blown away by Jeremy Doku, the City captain offered only a few jabs and flicks. That’s nowhere near enough to stop Gabriel’s incessant rumble to Bukayo Saka’s corner.

The stage was set for a better contest than the one the Etihad got. Arsenal’s belligerent rear guard and their sweating of the small stuff was unabashedly 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? Could Calafiori catch Savinho? We will never know. According to the letter of the law, Leandro Trossard kicked the ball away shortly after Oliver blew up for a foul on Bernardo Silva. Arteta was among many to note that Doku went clean for a similar earlier in the first half.

“It is so obvious that there is no need to comment on it,” Arteta said.

He would later feel compelled to comment on it. This was the second time in three league games an Arsenal player received a second yellow card for kicking the ball away. Referees instructed players before the season started that this would be stopped. They have so far failed to explain why all but the most egregious cases — few would argue that those of Declan Rice or Trossard for that matter — needed to be addressed. No one in the game was clamoring to do anything about the whiff of balls rolling a few feet away.

In light of referee chief Howard Webb indicating more yellows that should have been given for kicking the ball away, Arteta has the right to feel that from here on every case should result in a sanction. “I expect 100 Premier League games to be, 10 v 11 or nine v 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 right way. We don’t talk about it.

In the media’s defense — and as one of those who didn’t separate the tactics — there was so much else to deal with. With a lead to protect, Ben White was sent off despite being injured. Arteta later admitted that it would take a “miracle” for his side to get something out of 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 imagine what could have been. Their 5-4-0 really drove one of the best attacks in the world to a string of increasingly desperate long shots. That shot map above is what City have 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 of keeping the ball in play, to refuse to commit fouls that would allow them to break their rhythm, but even he had to admit that that blow and hopes of Ruben Dias and Mateo Kovacic was not an ideal ending. points for their attacks.

Finally one opening would break City’s way, assistant striker John Stones pouncing on the rebound after the last of Kovacic’s four shots bounced around the penalty area. Cue jubilation in the Etihad Stadium, of course. They were driven to entertainment by Arsenal.

Havertz may 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 pretended to lob a ball at him. Haaland didn’t even pretend. The ecstasy was all the greater because Arsenal were furiously cynical, every dead ball seemingly the motivation for a red shirt to clamp up. David Raya, in particular, engaged in such disgraceful play to go with his spectacular saves that you half wondered if Emiliano Martinez was back at his old digs.

City will remember all that, just as the Arsenal fire will be fueled by the flashpoints before and after Stones’ dramatic late equaliser. What once threatened to be a lukewarm rivalry defined by mutual respect and all-too-similar tactics has now sprung to life. The traces of the friendly rivalry are ashes. February 1st and the meeting at the Emirates Stadium can’t come soon enough.