A collective nerve was certainly touched at the Etihad Stadium. In the aftermath of their last-gasp 2-2 draw on Sunday, a host of Manchester City players came out to bemoan Arsenal’s playmaking ability, cynicism and willingness to settle for a point. For John Stones, it was “dirty”. Bernardo Silva said that “there was only one team that came to play football.” Nobody asked for humility as hard as Erling Haaland did since Kendrick Lamar in 2017. After all that, Manuel Akanji ended up picking up Rodri’s familiar refrain from last season. Arsenal could have been happy with one point but the champions were not.
“It worked for them if they are happy with one point,” said Akanji after John Stones’ 98th-minute strike secured a point for City. “We’re not, we’ve tried to get more but that’s what they’re happy with.”
City certainly tried, especially in the second half where they held the man advantage following Leandro Trossard’s red card on the brink of half-time for kicking the ball away. Mikel Arteta was furious about it, Arsenal’s second dismissal in his last three Premier League games, after the final whistle, but City felt no less aggrieved at what they felt was Arsenal’s cynicism.
Sure, there were plenty of Arsenal players who hit the deck in need of treatment as they beat off wave after wave of Sky Blue attacks with impeccable tenacity. A cynic might suggest it gave them a rare breather in a half where City simply refused to let the ball go out of play. David Raya wasn’t afraid to hit the deck and take his time after his eight post-interval saves. It was no wonder he and Arsenal felt the need for a lie-in. As City pursued a tie they unleashed 28 shots on the Arsenal goal, tilting their field to such an extent that five of their players completed more final third passes in the second half than any outfielder in red managed across the entire pitch.
Equally, it is worth noting that Arsenal’s tactics extended beyond the cynical. With 11 men or 10 Arsenal are showing a real understanding of how to make City take the shots they want to give up. Since the start of last season, the xG of the champions per shot in the Premier League was 0.118. Their mark against the Gunners is by far the lowest of any opponent at 0.075. Almost 45% of City’s shots on the Arsenal goal came from outside the box. More than 16 percent were headers, 37 percent were blocked. The numbers continue to deteriorate for City, their last three encounters with Arsenal have produced just seven open-play shots on target. No wonder their shot conversion rate is a paltry 4.1 percent.
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Arteta’s side may have been beaten by Haaland this time, a grain storm went up their gut after a brilliant skill from Savinho, but for the other 269 minutes of his recent outings against William Saliba and Gabriel, he was extinguished. No wonder he was so intent on beefing with Myles Lewis-Skelly and Arteta at the final whistle. Those were battles he might win. Meanwhile, none of City’s wide forwards and playmakers brought a save from Raya. If Haaland doesn’t get a shot on the Arsenal goal, it’s often a hit-and-hope from one of the defenders.
Arsenal defended quite brilliantly, knowing which players to give room to and which to double. Add the other methods at their disposal and it was almost a surprise that a way was eventually found through the 10 men.
Asked if Arsenal are masters of the so-called dark arts, Akanji said, “I don’t think there are many better than them at it.”
There may be some in north London who welcome such an assessment, especially coming from a side that has developed a reputation as masters of stopping opposition exits by fair or foul means.
Arsenal’s collective personality has long been defined by its naivety. It is hard to believe that a team under previous management would sit in 5-4-0 after the red of Trossard. Indeed, Akanji’s assessment of how Arteta’s side played against City reads like the antithesis of late-era Arsene Wenger.
“Every time we play against them, that’s what they’re looking for: the drama. To go hard in the duels, defense, 11 players in their own box and then go on set pieces and try to score a goal,” said Akanji.
It almost worked, although Akanji believed that Michael Oliver could have done more to stop Arsenal from destroying the game.
“That’s what they’re looking for in the end. We have to defend ourselves because in every duel, every free kick that was given, they went to the floor. Players go to the floor to get up, sprint back again, continue. the floor again, one of their team went to tell the keeper to go to the floor and things like that,” he said.
“I mean, there’s nothing we can do about it. In the end, it’s up to the referee to control throughout the season, to control these situations. But yeah, there’s nothing else we can do about it.”
Akanji wasn’t the only one unimpressed with Oliver. Silva, who was unimpressed by new rivals Arsenal compared to Liverpool, who “always faced us face to face to try to win the games”, said, “There was only one team that came to play football. The other came to play the . limits of what could be done and allowed by the referee, unfortunately.”
Arsenal could reasonably argue otherwise. After all, they ended the first half in the lead, Riccardo Calafiori’s stunning goal and Gabriel’s header from a corner reversing Haaland’s early opener. Arteta may have overstated his point when he said that “99 times out of 100” a team that plays a half against City down to 10 men loses and loses a lot – Leeds beat the champions in those circumstances in April 2021 – but most. at the Etihad would have agreed at half-time that it was beyond even Europe’s best defense to avoid defeat.
What they did was a triumph that will only appear to Arsenal when the devastation of Stones’ late equalizer subsides. Boiling City’s blood so determinedly in the process should only make for a sweeter sense of pride.
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