MCI Post Match Review: Manchester City vs Arsenal

The dust has finally settled but the emotions are still running high from what was easily the most hotly-contested matchup between reigning champions Manchester City and the London-based club, Arsenal FC in recent years. Despite being only matchday five, this fixture had the feel of a derby or a title-deciding match, with both English football giants giving their all to secure the full three points.. something that neither club could accomplish on the day. From opening minute physical clashes to red cards, injuries and scuffles, this one was dynamite and we’ll attempt to give you the full rundown in our match review. 

First-Half:

City’s starting lineup featured five changes from the XI that defeated Brentford over the weekend. John Stones was dropped for Rúben Dias, City captain Kyle Walker returned to the starting lineup in place of Rico Lewis, and Rodri replaced Kovacic. Jack Grealish and the injured Kevin De Bruyne were deputized by Jeremy Doku and Bernardo Silva while Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta opted for new signee Riccardo Calafiori ahead of Ben White at LB and Declan Rice returned from suspension replacing Jorginho. The whistle had barely blown before Rodri, City’s all-world midfielder, fell in a heap on the floor. Arsenal’s Kai Havertz, seemingly determined to set the tone early, drove his shoulder directly into City’s Spanish midfielder in an off-ball challenge. Feigning innocence, the German looked at referee Michael Oliver with a sheepish, yet devilish look on his face. This was the type of match they were determined to play. Might there have been some residual, lingering resentment towards Rodri from his “mentality” comments? It certainly seemed so but regardless, the match went on with no punishment for the completely unnecessary contact. 

That physicality from the jump appeared to have awoken the beast in Haaland, who took it upon himself to annihilate William Saliba in a collision a few minutes later. It was Gundogan with the first real chance of the game as Akanji hit a switch out to the right for Bernardo Silva, who found Gundogan in the box with a slick incisive pass. Unfortunately, Gundo’s shot went wide. One minute later, iSavinho made mincemeat of Calafiori, cutting onto his stronger left foot and playing a perfect pass into a patient Haaland, holding his position in the back line before making his run. The man who “doesn’t score in big games” opened up the scoring with a perfect finish, making it 1-0 City. With that goal, Haaland scored 100 goals in 105 appearances for Man City, which equals Cristiano Ronaldo’s record of 100 goals in his 105th appearance with Real Madrid back in 2011. City continued to press forward, dominating the match and seeing their next FK attempt from Gundogan sore harmlessly over the bar. And then… tragedy struck.

It was Rodri again on the floor following contact with former Atleti teammate Thomas Partey. As City fans held their breath, the momentum and elation from the opening goal disappeared as City’s medical team checked on our star man. Eventually, Rodri signaled that he couldn’t go on and Mateo Kovacic was introduced to the match. In that moment of chaos and change, Arsenal struck. Despite being humiliated by Savinho’s trickery in City’s first goal, Calafiori found himself in space following a controversial stoppage of play by Michael Oliver in which he clearly called Kyle Walker over for a chat. Walker was either late or not given enough time to get back into position, Martinelli found the open space, laid it off to Calafiori who ripped a cannon of a shot into the top corner for the tying goal. A furious Pep was seen raging on the sideline, even kicking his chair in frustration. 

It was at this point that the time wasting already had begun and the match intensity started to increase, with cards being given out in abundance in an effort to regain control over the match. Following Arsenal’s first goal, Ederson was given a yellow for dissension followed by a yellow for Leandro Trossard for impeding Savinho’s progress. Arsenal looked to have momentum at their backs as Gabriel Magalhães, who has built a reputation as a scoring defender, absolutely humiliated a pathetic defensive effort by Kyle Walker, exploding past him and rising high for the Gunners second goal. Yet another controversial goal for Arsenal as replays showed three of Arsenal’s defenders essentially blocking Ederson’s path in the box. Ruben Dias was given a yellow for further dissension and Thomas Partey, after yet another questionable tackle, was finally in the book as well following a tackle on Savinho. But the half wasn’t done with drama just yet. Trossard, booked earlier, received a second yellow for time wasting and was given his marching orders. 

Second-Half: 

Much of the second half was brutal to watch, with City dominating possession and Arsenal hanging on for dear life. With Arsenal down to 10 men, Arteta chose to substitute Ben White for Bukayo Saka, a clear signal of intent that their sole motive was to park the bus and protect their slender lead. The rinse-and-repeat cycle began for Manchester City, passing around the box until they found space to take a shot. In addition to their defensive approach, Arsenal were hellbent on wasting time through whatever means necessary. David Raya in particular proved to be quite effective at this through his goal kicks. 

Arsenal’s academy player Lewis Miles-Skelly made history as the first player to receive a card before making his Premier League debut. Silly lad. After watching our defenders attempt long range shots for what seemed like an eternity, Phil Foden was finally substituted into the game for Jeremy Doku, who had a decent day. This moved Savinho to the left, Silva to the right, and Foden in the midfield next to Gundogan. With Arsenal defending as well as anyone we’ve seen, Pep opted for more changes, introducing John Stones and Jack Grealish for Ruben Dias and Kyle Walker. These two substitutions effectively changed the match.

Gabriel Jesus entered the game for Martinelli, with the former City striker choosing to bully Bernardo Silva for some odd reason. He then received a card for attempting to delay the game. Jealousy perhaps? With the minutes winding down and City probing for answers, Jack Grealish quite literally took the game by the scruff of the neck and sped up the tempo of our attack. Following a quick corner routine, Grealish cut the ball back to Kova. Kova’s wayword shot deflected onto John Stones feet and City’s defender scored the equalizer with the final kick of the game. 

Post Match Thoughts:

A needed draw for City as dropping three points when playing with a man up at home would have been unfortunate. Kyle Walker had one of his worst games in a City shirt and a genuine question is emerging in terms of whether or not he’s a better fit for the starting XI over academy graduate, Rico Lewis. While Arsenal do deserve credit for executing their gameplan, this was one of the most excruciating fixtures to watch, with City unable to create clear chances for most of the match and Arsenal seemingly only concerned with time wasting and injuring our players. Haaland had himself a day, physically dominating Arsenal’s defenders, telling Mikel Arteta to stay humble, and talking smack with several of Arsenal’s players. 

Here are five key post match thoughts from our draw vs. Arsenal:

• With Rodri now out injured for an extended period of time, Pep and the City board face arguably the worst scenario they could imagine. Bringing Gundogan back does mitigate this issue a tad but at his age and with his declining mobility, he is only a temporary solution. A January acquisition might be necessary. 
• Through his 12 goal kicks , Raya wasted over nine minutes of the game on goal-kicks alone. Each one took him 45.3 seconds on average to complete, comfortably the most time spent taking goal-kicks in a game this season and almost a minute longer than the next highest entry.
• City’s domination of possession and Arsenal’s unwillingness to play was further magnified by two passing statistics. Jurrien Timber and Kai Havertz didn’t complete a SINGLE pass against Man City yesterday, becoming the FIRST outfield players in over 21 seasons of Premier League football to play over 89 minutes of a match and not carry out a successful pass. 
• Arsenal only completed passes, 1 shot, 12% possession, and 52% pass accuracy. Manchester City drew but football won at the end and City are still at the top of the table.
• Manchester City remain top of the table while Arsenal drop to 4th. 

Written by: Sheikh & Damien