Arsenal 1 – Manchester City 1: so that happened

For more than 90 minutes, it looked as if Arsenal were going to suffer an incredibly frustrating defeat. They had one poor defensive sequence all match, conceded from it, and couldn’t find the way through for the equalizer. Gabriel “The Finisher” Martinelli changed that in the 93rd minute, with a massive assist to an incredible ball from Ebere Eze. In the end, it feels like a fantastic and important point earned from a “must not lose” match but also a frustrating result.

The visitors really didn’t offer much at all. Pep Guardiola’s side spluttered to less than 33% possession, the lowest ever for a Guardiola side, time-wasting the entire way. They played not to lose. I suppose it worked — they didn’t lose. But they definitely didn’t try to win the match, either. You know, the thing that Arsenal were (wrongly, ridiculously) derided for doing at Anfield a few weeks ago. Mighty Manchester City, with all their resources and talent, played like Diet Stoke, parking the bus and desperately trying to hang onto a 1-0 lead. What is worse than Dark Arts FC? Asking for Manchester City.

Mikel Arteta didn’t do himself or his team any favors, either. It’s incredibly annoying that he has yet to figure out that the Zubimendi-Rice-Merino midfield ain’t it. That trio has very little creativity and really struggle to establish Arsenal in the attacking third of the pitch. Pretty much the only times it happened were when the ball went wide to Noni Madueke for him to do it or when Rice / Zubimendi turned upfield, dribbled beyond the first man, and did it themselves. The Gunners basically wasted 45 minutes of the match.

Arsenal looked so much better with Ebere Eze on the pitch in the second half playing in a more central role. Some of that was a knock-on effect from Manchester City basically doing nothing with a 1-0 lead but more of it was because the Gunners desperately needed a player like Eze on the pitch. He has that thing, that little bit of magic, that ability to create something out of nothing and to see something other players can’t, that Mikel Merino doesn’t seem to have. It’s probably a bit harsh on Merino, too. He is a fine player and does good things, but when the other two in the conversation are Rice and Zubimendi, the focus is going to be on the third guy.

I don’t want to feed into the “popular” framing that it’s a question of risk tolerance, the handbrake, and all that. But Mikel Arteta would do well to trust Declan Rice and Martin Zubimendi. Lean into Rice’s ability to patrol the middle of the field, erasing mistakes, and wrecking attacks. Allow Zubimendi to read the play and be in the right place at the right time to avert danger. Trust your world class CBs to clean the rest up behind them. And get rid of the redundancy in your formation in favor of a bit more flair.

It’s a bit ironic that I’m saying that after Zubimendi, Gabriel, and William Saliba were all partially to blame for the Manchester City goal. Gabriel jumped with Haaland when Zubimendi was already occupying the space. Zubimendi didn’t do enough in the challenge. Saliba didn’t recognize that Haaland was storming up the pitch and pass off the ball-carrier to Jurrien Timber to track Haaland’s run. It looked as if Gabriel was trying to communicate that to his teammates, but they didn’t hear or didn’t recognize. I’d also point out that on the sequence the ball took multiple fortuitous deflections for City. It was bouncing around between players in the middle of the pitch and every single deflection took it right to a City player rather than anywhere else.

That’s a goal that Arsenal probably don’t concede later this season. Let’s not forget that Zubimendi is six competitive matches into his Arsenal career. Everyone is still learning their teammates’ tendencies and getting comfortable in the system. I also think that William Saliba probably plays that break better if he’s not 9-minutes into his return from an ankle injury that had kept him off the pitch for three weeks. Let’s not forget that Arsenal have conceded two goals in the Premier League this season and just one from open play.

Things not quite clicking for Arsenal is a consistent theme. Noni Madueke is playing really well but he seems isolated. He’s getting into good positions and then not finding anybody with the cutbacks. On one in particular, Viktor Gyokeres was a step or two late arriving into the six-yard box. Gyokeres didn’t have much of an impact on the game, at least not that I noticed. I think (I hope?) most of that is timing and tendency-learning, which should come. The tough schedule hasn’t exactly been conducive to bedding players in, either. After away to Newcastle next weekend, that should change a bit.

Good thing Arsenal have their finishers, though. In case you missed it, the idiot pundit class tried to make something of Mikel Arteta describing his quality players who come off the bench as “finishers” rather than as “substitutes” for some reason. As if it’s a bad thing to have Gabriel Martinelli’s quality available when you need it.

It’s particularly poetic that Martinelli, probably the most maligned of Arsenal’s attackers in The Current Discourse, has scored critical goals in back-to-back games. It’s also wildly amusing that Manchester City spent the entire match bunkered in a deep block only to concede, in added time, because their line was too high. Eze saw Martinelli break between the defenders and played the perfect ball. Martinelli chipped Donnarumma, who was comically out of position, for the equalizer.

Maybe that’s all Manchester City are good for at this point. They’ve got the talent and the resources to be better, but they’ve taken 7 points from 5 matches and sit 9th. It seems as though they’re trying to rebuild and transition, but Bernardo Silva, and his peevish, pathetic display today, is emblematic of what they actually are right now. After seeing yellow for a completely unnecessary, nasty, late sliding challenge on Gabriel, he was lucky to avoid a second yellow card in first half stoppage time.

The ball was out for a Manchester City throw. Silva picked it up and rolled it back onto the pitch to waste time. He also aimed it at a prostrate Leandro Trossard, hitting him with it. Trossard, in turn, foolishly and naively underhanded the ball back at Silva, who threw himself to the ground theatrically. Go watch the replay. You can see the beat between the ball hitting him and him going to ground where he decides he’s going to simulate. It’s pathetic. The referee talked to both players, presumably told both to cut the crap, and that was that. It was a fine decision to not show both players a yellow card, but one made only because Silva was already on a caution. I would bet that if he wasn’t, both Silva and Trossard are disciplined.

It’s not so much about the referee’s decision (he was fine today, albeit I’d have preferred to see more yellow cards — I’m getting really tired of all the grabbing players from behind in football) as it is about Manchester City. They’ve somehow managed to make themselves even more dislike-able. Pep Guardiola took an extremely conservative and negative approach to today’s match and was punished for it.

Gabriel Martinelli’s late goal snatching a (deserved) draw puts a satisfying gloss on an otherwise annoying game. People will see Liverpool 5 points clear at the top and lose their heads. I’m already seeing it. C’mon, folks. It’s aggravating that Liverpool have played 5, won 5. But they’ve hardly looked convincing doing it. Arsenal have conceded 2 goals in the Premier League and scored 10, one fewer than Liverpool. It’s a long season and there is nothing between the two sides. Arsenal are really good, and they showed that today. Hopefully Mikel Arteta will realize that he can throw a bit more caution to the wind and that Arsenal’s stars keep getting healthy and staying that way.