Arsenal are a threat to Man City’s Premier League throne

MANCHESTER, England — John Stones‘ 98th-minute equaliser salvaged a 2-2 draw for Manchester City on Sunday against an Arsenal side who had to play the entire second half with 10 men following Leandro Trossard‘s controversial red card.

In a pulsating game at Etihad Stadium between last season’s top two in the Premier League, Erling Haaland scored his 100th goal for City in just 105 appearances, giving the home side a ninth-minute lead. The Gunners responded impressively, though, as Riccardo Calafiori marked his league debut with a sublime left-footed strike before Gabriel Magalhães headed in Bukayo Saka‘s 45th-minute corner.

Trossard was dismissed for a second yellow-card offence in kicking the ball away after fouling Bernardo Silva, a moment that promoted a furious reaction from Gunners boss Mikel Arteta. City spent the entire second half camped on the edge of Arsenal’s box but looked destined to lose a league game at home for the first time in almost two years before Stones turned the ball home from close range after a scramble in the box following a short corner. — James Olley

Arsenal ill-disciplined or refereeing inconsistency?

For the second time in three Premier League games, Arsenal lost a player to a second yellow card for kicking the ball away.

Whereas Declan Rice was punished for a faint nudge against Brighton & Hove Albion, Trossard was dismissed here for booting the ball off into the distance after fouling Silva on the stroke of half-time. Both were technically correct decisions, but both were also examples of time wasting, which frequently go unpunished during matches — and often in the same games. Joao Pedro escaped censure for kicking the ball away in that Brighton contest while Jérémy Doku delayed the restarting of play in the first half in City’s favour without receiving a booking.

Whatever the inconsistencies in the application of that particular law, however, Trossard’s red card extends a poor Gunners disciplinary record under Arteta. Since the Spaniard’s first game in December 2019, Arsenal have had 17 players sent off in the Premier League, four more than any other team. — Olley

Gunners toughen up to take the fight to City

Arteta has added some steel to his Arsenal side this season, and it was evident within just five seconds of the kickoff when Kai Havertz crudely body-checked Rodri in the centre circle.

One of the criticisms of Arteta’s Gunners during their fruitless title battles against City in recent years has been their lack of edge. They have plenty of talent, but was there anything behind the smiles and joy of their young players?

Those smiles have been replaced by snarls this season, and Arteta’s side is beginning to develop the nasty streak that ran through all of Arsene Wenger’s successful teams. Arsenal’s battles with Manchester United, when the two sides won every Premier League title during a nine-year period between 1996 and 2005, became legendary for the belligerence displayed by both sets of players.

Although the City-vs.-Arsenal games have yet to come close to matching the intensity of the United-Arsenal rivalry, this game showed that it is certainly beginning to brew up. The Havertz challenge was one of a number of spiky exchanges, including Trossard’s barge on Silva that preceded his second yellow card.

Gabriel spent the afternoon wrestling with Haaland, while Calafiori and Jurriën Timber have both added toughness to Arsenal’s defence, too. If the Gunners fail to win the title again this season, it won’t be because of a lack of fight. — Mark Ogden

City should’ve been prepared for Arsenal’s set-piece prowess

Man City couldn’t say they weren’t warned — in every sense. Moments before Gabriel headed in Saka’s 45th-minute corner for what threatened to be the winning goal — until Stones struck at the death — the Brazilian defender had a similar opportunity from another Saka delivery he headed off target.

Gabriel’s threat should have been obvious — 14 of his 16 Premier League goals have been from corners, the highest ratio of any player with 10 or more goals in Premier League history — and yet the first time he evaded Doku too easily and the second time he left Kyle Walker in his wake. Gabriel also headed in a Saka corner to provide the match-winning moment in Arsenal’s north London derby win at Tottenham Hotspur a week earlier.

The Gunners scored a league-high 22 goals from dead-ball situations last season, and the mastermind behind it all once wore City blue: Nicolas Jover left City for Arsenal in 2021. — Olley

Gunners cement status as genuine contenders

The transition was almost complete. Arsenal are desperate to prove they are finally ready to end City’s dominance by winning their first Premier League title since 2004, and what better way to do that than beat City in their own backyard?

The Gunners — like most teams, in fairness — have a terrible away record against City, their most recent win in this fixture coming in January 2015. It created an inferiority complex that has proved difficult to shake.

In that context, last season’s 0-0 draw was a significant step forward in proving themselves City’s equals. On Sunday, they were seconds away from going even further and securing a statement victory that would have fuelled Arsenal’s self-belief that they could become champions — only for Stones to snatch that feeling away with almost the last kick of the game.

Arteta made some surprising calls, handing Calafiori his Premier League debut and switching Timber to right-back at the expense of Ben White, who the manager later confirmed was carrying an injury. Some criticised Arteta’s defensive approach in securing that 0-0 last season, and following Trossard’s red card, he surrendered any intention of trying to attack given the numerical disadvantage his team faced for 45 minutes. White came on for Saka and Arsenal effectively went 5-4-0 in formation.

Stones’ goal leaves a sour taste for Arteta, but he will take immense pride from the way his team defended throughout the second period — facing 20 shots to none of their own — especially at the end of a long week that began with victory at Spurs and continued with a Thursday night Champions League stalemate at Atalanta. The wait for a win at City goes on, but Guardiola knows he has a serious contender sitting close in his rearview mirror. — Olley

Pep had few answers as Arsenal frustrated the champs

Pep Guardiola must have felt as though he was in a recurring nightmare while watching his Manchester City try to break down Arsenal in the second half. Arsenal, reduced to 10 players by the 45th-minute sending off of Trossard, spent virtually the entire second half with a defensive low block of five defenders and four midfielders, sometimes less than 2 yards apart, repelling City attacks on the edge of their penalty area.

Holding out for 45 minutes against such a fearsome attacking side as City may have seemed like an impossible task for Arsenal, but they almost pulled it off, and Guardiola was as much to blame as his players for City’s struggles in making a breakthrough before Stones’ equaliser.

Seasoned Guardiola watchers will remember two epic Champions League exits at the Camp Nou when his Barcelona team failed to overcome two sides — Jose Mourinho’s Inter Milan in 2010 and a Roberto Di Matteo-led Chelsea in 2012 — who both spent the entire second halves smothering the ball and defending on the edge of their penalty area. It happened again on Sunday at the Etihad, and Guardiola failed to make key changes when it was obvious that his team were struggling to score.

City’s tactic boiled down to defenders Walker, Rúben Dias and Manuel Akanji taking ambitious shots from the outside of the box, and it was so obvious that Guardiola had to do something. He waited until the 70th minute, though, before making a change — Phil Foden for Doku — and another eight minutes before throwing Stones and Jack Grealish into the fray.

The changes made little difference until Stones struck, but Guardiola should have shaken it up earlier. He didn’t need two centre-halves on the pitch against an Arsenal side without a striker, and he took too long to introduce Grealish.

On this occasion, City and Guardiola got away with it, but Arsenal were so close to frustrating the champions and claiming an incredible victory. — Ogden

Cracks appear in Rodri-less City

If there was anyone still in doubt as to Rodri’s importance to Manchester City, the midfielder’s first-half injury, which forced him out of the game, underlined just why he is arguably the one player Guardiola can’t be without.

Rodri appeared to suffer a knee injury in a seemingly innocuous collision with Thomas Partey on 20 minutes. He underwent lengthy treatment on the pitch before being replaced by Mateo Kovacic when it became clear the Spain midfielder couldn’t continue.

Without Rodri, City lack the glue that holds the team together. He is the world’s best defensive midfielder, but he has more to his game than that, and his creativity is what makes him so important to the team.

City haven’t lost a Premier League game with Rodri in the side since a defeat against Tottenham in 2023, a run that now extends to 52 games.

When he was sidelined because of suspension early last season, City lost back-to-back league games against Newcastle United and Wolverhampton Wanderers, so if Rodri is facing a spell on the sidelines with his injury, it will be interesting to see how City cope. They almost lost against Arsenal, but for Stones’ late equaliser, so the cracks in the team without Rodri are already showing. — Ogden