Time to wrap things up. Arsenal’s players and supporters will be remember 2 February 2025 for a helluva long time, hopefully forever. Goodnight.
Pep Guardiola’s reaction
[John Stones says the dressing-room is an angry and emotional place…] It has to be when you lose a football match like that, especially the last 25 minutes. It’s not easy to start the game 1-0 down but the team reacted really well again, I would say until 2-1, maybe 3-1. After that we lost it*.
At 1-1 we had an action, we tried to find Omar [Marmoush] and start a two-v-one with Savinho, and we lose the ball, they shoot, deflection… Then we concede another goal and another goal and another goal.
In the first half we controlled the game, but I can’t defend the players – or myself, first, of course – for the last 25 minutes. The rest of the game we played well; that’s my feeling.
[Are you saying the players didn’t follow the gameplan?] No, the players are proud, they wanted to solve it. We have to do it together against a good team. In the first half Arsenal were a little bit scared but when it went 3-1 they were confident. In that moment, you have to do what you have to do.
[Why do you keep collapsing under pressure?] No, every game is different. It’s football. You have to know in certain positions when there is a risk. But the really is that we played long balls. And what happened every time we played long balls?
[You lost it]
We lost it and they came back stronger. Winning balls against Saliba and Gabriel is not easy, not even for Erling. The last 20 minutes we were tired and affected emotionally. Football is sometimes about moments – you have to resist and then come back in the good moments.
[On Haaland barely touching the ball] He has two central defenders and two holding midfielders so narrow. Sometimes it’s not easy to find him. You have to be patient.
[Why are you losing the ball more often in dangerous areas?] Maybe the opponents are more aggressive. Sometimes it happens but this season we have gone behind in many, many games and lost points.
[Are you in transition?] We will see. We will see. The players are getting old, just like the manager is getting old; it’s normal. But we’re still in February, there are a lot of games to play.
* I’m not sure he meant this in the colloquial sense, it was hard to hear what he said afterwards.
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Apparently the Arsenal DJ played Kendrick Lamar’s Humble at the final whistle. I don’t know about you but I can’t wait for their next meeting, ideally in a Champions League semi-final.
David Hytner’s match report
“Looking at the table three days ago, I couldn’t help but feel that goal difference was a huge advantage for City in the Champions League race,” says Liam Curson. “It was 11 better than Forests. Now, they’re both on +13. Insanity.”
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John Stones gives the City reaction
It’s difficult. All of us don’t take losing well. It’s hard for me to put into words actually, straight after a game like that. Our pride’s hurt… sorry to the fans who travelled to come and watch that. How we played in the last 30 minutes was not acceptable.
As a collective, it’s not us. It’s not nice to be involved in that when you know it’s not your team or yourself. Credit to Arsenal, this is not an easy place to come to and they played really well against us. In the first hour we played some great football at times and we were in the game. It was a swinging point, and unfortunately it swung the wrong way for us.
I’m angry, upset, personally and collectively, at how the game finished. For many reasons.
[Why the collapse?] I dunno. That’s the magic question. To equalise was a great feeling and a good situation to be in. To concede after that from a deflection… I could have stayed more square, maybe, I’ll have to watch it back. It’s a split-second decision. We can’t let those situations get on top of us. We stopped doing the things we were meant to… difficult for me to put into words.
To allow them to have so much of the ball towards the end is frustrating when we’re a team that is usually so good at keeping the ball and controlling the tempo of the game. I’ve been on both sides of it and today was the wrong side to be on. The dressing-room is an emoptional place in many ways.
We want to bounce back, quickly. Not erase it – I believe these things make you stronger and will make us realise what we’ve done over the last eight years and what we’re capable of doing. We need to make it right.
I wouldn’t say [City’s era of dominance] is coming to an end. There are a lot of different things that I still haven’t figured out as to why it hasn’t clicked. The heart’s there, the passion’s there; everyone’s got the right intention. We all need to stick together. That’s a key point, that we don’t start pointing fingers and that we look at ourselves first and foremost.
Declan Rice’s verdict
It’s an unbelievable score. From the moment we went on the pitch we had that fire in our belly; we really wanted to win the game after what happened at the Etihad.
Until they scored their goal I thought it was an even game. They still posed a threat and had a lot of the ball. We had to sit deep at times. They’re still a top side and they can still punish teams.
When it went 1-1 you think maybe the momentum could shift, but we got Thomas’s goal from another high press and keep pushing after that. To win 5-1 was top but I thought it was a really tough game; that’s how it felt out there anyway.
The rivalry has been building for a while. They nicked the title off Arsenal the year I wasn’t here, then last season they beat us to the title. It’s been hard to accept that, and then with everything that went on at the Etihad earlier in the season, you do have that fire in the stomach. We wanted to make amends.
We’re so, so happy. But there’s still such a long way to go and we’re still a couple of points (sic) off the top and that’s where we want to be.
[On getting two assists] Yeah I was really pleased with that, especially the last one. I don’t think many people think I’ve got that in my locker! I saw it five seconds before and knew I was gonna play it out to Ethan even before I got the ball. I need to keep adding goals and assists to my game, especially if I keep playing the No8 position.
I’m feeling way better than I did at the start of the season. I just want to keep going and help this club win silverware. That’s why I’m here and why everyone else is here.
Liverpool are still quite far in front, especially with the game in hand. Respect to them; it’s down to us to hunt them. We knew we had to win today. It’s been one of the best days since I’ve been at Arsenal.
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Arsenal reaction
Martin Odegaard
Tough game, top performance. With a scoresheet like that it can’t be better so we’re very happy. In the end I think we got what we deserved.
[On Havertz] He had a massive impact again today with and without the ball. He’s a top player, an intelligent player. We understand each other well and have a good connection.
Kai Havertz
We managed to press them quite well, we didn’t give them much time. Our energy was good and we took our chances.
[What’s the key to the press?] It’s the timing, you know? We work on it a lot. We [Havertz and Odegaard] are the first ones to press but we need everyone to push and the rest of the team did it excellently as well.
[On his goal] It was lovely to see it go in. I was a bit frustrated from my chance in the first half.
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I think I did Nwaneri a disservice. Yes, his curler wasn’t right in the corner but it was close enough and a brilliant goal by anyone, never mind a 17-year-old.
The updated Premier League table
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Liverpool | 23 | 35 | 56 |
| 2 | Arsenal | 24 | 27 | 50 |
| 3 | Nottm Forest | 24 | 13 | 47 |
| 4 | Man City | 24 | 13 | 41 |
| 5 | Newcastle | 24 | 13 | 41 |
| 6 | Chelsea | 23 | 15 | 40 |
| 7 | AFC Bournemouth | 24 | 13 | 40 |
| 8 | Aston Villa | 24 | -3 | 37 |
| 9 | Fulham | 24 | 4 | 36 |
| 10 | Brighton | 24 | -3 | 34 |
| 11 | Brentford | 24 | 0 | 31 |
| 12 | Crystal Palace | 24 | -2 | 30 |
| 13 | Man Utd | 24 | -6 | 29 |
| 14 | Tottenham Hotspur | 24 | 11 | 27 |
| 15 | West Ham | 23 | -16 | 27 |
| 16 | Everton | 23 | -5 | 26 |
| 17 | Wolverhampton | 24 | -18 | 19 |
| 18 | Leicester | 24 | -28 | 17 |
| 19 | Ipswich | 24 | -27 | 16 |
| 20 | Southampton | 24 | -36 | 9 |
For whatever reason, and you can’t argue with the outcome, Arsenal only really went for City at 2-1. When it was 1-0, effectively the same score, they were happy to play at a slower pace. Maybe, given the devastating timing of Thomas Partey’s goal, they sensed City’s vulnerability; if so their game awareness is immaculate because they upped the tempo and were rampant for the rest of the match.
“My dad who was an Arsenal supporter from when he was a lad in the 1920s passed it onto me,” writes David Paradine. “He died more than 30 years ago but at times like this I still find myself sharing the moment with him.”
I didn’t think I’d be mentioning Minnie Driver today but she was on a fascinating podcast in which she and a psychotherapist (I think) talk about how your relationship with your parents evolves even after they’ve gone. I’d recommend it, it was really thought-provoking.
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There was no needle at the final whistle, at least not on the field. Gabriel was engaged in conversation with Matheus Nunes, who looked tempted to chin him at one stage, but he thought better of it and Jack Grealish walked him down the tunnel.
Arsenal have moved to within six points of Liverpool after savaging Manchester City in the second half. When Erling Haaland scored a superb equaliser City were arguably favourites; Thomas Partey scored 38 seconds after the restart and then City were taken apart.
Myles Lewis-Skelly, Kai Havertz and Ethan Nwaneri scored fine goals, each rousing because of the personal context, and the last 10 minutes might be the most humiliating of Pep Guardiola’s entire career. City didn’t look beaten, they looked broken.
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Full time: Arsenal 5-1 Man City
Wow.
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Rice, the unsung hero of this win, pinged a crossfield pass out to Nwaneri on the right. He cut inside from the right, 20 yards from goal, and whipped a curler into the far side of the goal. It wasn’t right in the corner but it was still a beautiful goal, an homage to the injured Bukayo Saka.
GOAL! Arsenal 5-1 Man City (Nwaneri 90+3)
Ethan Nwaneri, 17 years old, completes the humiliation with a delicious goal!
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90 min There will be three minutes of added misery for City. Even allowing for the devastating timing of Arsenal’s second goal, it’s been another extraordinary collapse.
90 min: Arsenal substitution Riccardo Calafiori and Raheem Sterling replace Kai Havertz and the wonderful Myles Lewis-Skelly. I’ve just realised that, when he scored, Lewis-Skelly mimicked Erling Haaland’s meditation celebration. Six months ago he hadn’t played a single minute in the Premier League; now he’s goading the league’s biggest goal machine.
89 min City have had some terrible defeats this seaosn. This feels like the most humiliating, possibly because of the sneering and the schadenfreude coming from every corner of the ground.
Meanwhile, Nwaneri’s corner is headed against the outside of the near post by Timber. The angle was almost impossible.
88 min “Some matches are more personally resonant than others,” says Kári Tulinius. “A friend converted me to Arsenal fandom, and today I travelled to his hometown for his funeral. I don’t think the universe takes heed of that sort of thing, but I can’t help but be thankful that the Gunners have played so well today.”
I’m really sorry to hear that. When Lewis-Skelly scored I started thinking about Andrew Hurley, an Arsenal fan and MBM regular who died last year at a shockingly young age. I wish he was around to enjoy this.
87 min Bernardo Silva, pushed to breaking point by some olé football, leaves plenty on an Arsenal player. I’m nopt sure who it was but the ball had long gone.
86 min “We’re not scoring enough goals,” says Matt Emerson. “We look light up front. We need a forward in the transfer window…”
Stay humble.
85 min “You’re getting sacked in the morning!” shout the Arsenal fans, who are having the kind of party they never thought possible against a Pep Guardiola team.
84 min: Double substitution for Arsenal Ethan Nwaneri and Mikel Merino replace Trossard, who was good, and Odegaard, who was Odegood.
Sorry.
83 min Haaland is penalised for a foul on Gabriel. He offers his hand, which Gabriel ignores. “He’s gotta snap soon, surely,” laughs Gary Neville on Sky. “I don’t think anyone who’s played football would begrudge Erling Haaland losing his rag and going for Gabriel.”
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81 min The odd thing about this is that Arsenal now need a favour from City, who host Liverpool later in the month. Arsenal could win their last 14 games and still not catch Liverpool, but the manner and emotion of this victory will make them feel they are still well in the title race.
80 min There are more goals out there for Arsenal. City look shell shocked.
79 min The key moment in the game, no question, was Partey’s goal at 1-1. City were on top when Haaland equalised; he seemed to have shut the home crowd up. And he had – but only for about a minute and a half.
Arsenal have destroyed City in transition all day. This time Martinelli, found superbly by Partey, led the counter-attack from deep in his own half. He ran to the edge of the area, waiting for Havertz to make a run outside, and then gave him the ball.
Havertz skipped calmly back inside Stones and slapped the ball into the far corner. It’s a terrific finish, even more so after his earlier miss, and he slides on his knees in celebration. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen him celebrate a goal quite so demonstratively, not even in the Champions League final.
GOAL! Arsenal 4-1 Man City (Havertz 76)
A moment of pharmaceutical-grade euphoria for Kai Havertz!
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74 min Lewis-Skelly zips infield then sets off on a penetrative straight run before being fouled by Haaland. “He’s a joy! He’s a joy!” says Gary Neville on commentary. Even Ashley Cole wasn’t this good at 18; in fact at the same age he hadn’t played a senior game.
73 min Arsenal have upped the tempo since going 2-1 ahead and City have struggled to cope. I can’t really believe I’m typing that sentence.
72 min: Double substitution for Manchester City Kevin De Bruyne and James McAtee replace Omar Marmoush, who found the intensity of the game too much at this stage of his education, and Phil Foden.
71 min Odegaard is booked for dissent after being penalised for a challenge on Kovacic just outside the City area.
68 min Rice, who has been fabulous, leads a three-on-three break and plays the ball through to Martinelli in the inside-right channel. He smashes a shot across goal that is pushed away by the diving Ortega. That’s a good save, although maybe Rice’s pass pushed Martinelli slightly wide.
Moments later Bernardo Silva – as bad a loser as he is good a player – has a little kick at the prostrate Trossard. It wasn’t strong enough for VAR to get involved.
66 min “Has my palate become jaded after all these years, or is this top-of-the-table clash a bad cover version of a face-off?” says Paul Griffin. “Having the magic of Duran Duran’s Public Enemy cover, Miley Cyrus’s Smells Like Teen Spirit?, or EinsturzendeNeubauten’s cover of The Wurzels ‘I am a cider drinker’ than the originals?”
Not even Johnny Cash could improve on this original.
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A spine-tingling moment at the Emirates. The teenager Myles Lewis-Skelly, whose world seemed to have collapsed eight days ago, has scored his first goal in senior football to give Arsenal a 3-1 lead.
Declan Rice, on the left, played a terrific, sharp pass into Lewis-Skelly on the edge of the area. He took it beautifully on the half turn, moved away from Stones and curled a right-footed shot that went through the left hand of the diving Ortega.
Maybe Ortega should have done better, but that’s the most incredible moment for Lewis-Skelly, an 18-year-old who was booked in the return fixture before he had played a minute of senior football – and who was asked, rhetorically, “who the eff are you?” by Erling Haaland.
Nothing stirs the soul of a football fan quite like watching young players write their own fairytales; Arsenal fans in the ground will remember that moment forever.
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GOAL! Arsenal 3-1 Man City (Lewis-Skelly 63)
Who the eff are you?
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61 min A side-angle replay shows that Foden had a clear view; Foden was trying to sweep a pass into Marmoush but undercooked it badly.
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59 min That was a weirdly poor pass from Foden. Gary Neville is speculating that his view of Partey might have been obscured by the referee. I’ve no idea, but I do know this game has exploded into life. Gvardiol finds Marmoush on the left side of the area; his first-time cross is crucually cut out by the sliding Gabriel.
Foden, 30 yards from his goal, swept a dodgy square pass that was read and intercepted by Partey. He moved to the edge of the D and hit a speculative shot that took a huge deflection off Stones and beat Ortega. It came 38 seconds after the kick-off.
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GOAL! Arsenal 2-1 Man City (Partey 57)
City were level for barely a minute!
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Haaland has equalised with a brilliant header. Savinho made a good run from left to right to receive Foden’s pass and create just enough space to stand up a terrific cross towards the far post. Haaland got in front of Saliba on the six-yard line, jumped early and strained every last neck muscle to force a header back over Raya. That is a terrific finish. Haaland celebrates by running straight over to the City fans in the corner, smiling like the cat that got every last bi of cream.
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GOAL! Arsenal 1-1 Man City (Haaland 55)
Erling Haaland lets his noggin do the talking!
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53 min Odegaard’s cross deflects behind off Foden, but the referee doesn’t see it and gives a goalkick.
52 min City’s main attacking options on the bench are Kevin De Bruyne, Jack Grealish and Ilkay Gundogan. This might actually be a day for Gundogan, given the intelligence of his movement. City have struggled to find any space in the final third.
51 min Foden is fouled 35 yards from goal by a combination of Lewis-Skelly and Odegaard. Foden’s free-kick is headed up in the air by Havertz and cleared by Rice.
50 min Kovacic and Haaland combine neatly to find Marmoush on the left side of the area. He’s well challenged by Saliba and the danger peters out. Gary Neville thinks Haaland might have hit the ball on the turn from the edge of the area instead of finding Marmoush. It did open up for a split-second, though whether that would have been enough time to get a shot away I don’t know.
48 min City pick up where they left off before half-time, with lots of harmless passing. Eventually a crossfield pass bounces over the head of Nunes and out for a throw-in.
47 min “I have previously joked in these parts about a Danny Ings heat map requiring thermals and a woolly hat, and Antonio’s doing a passable imitation of the heat death of the Universe,” begins Brian Withington. “Meanwhile at the Emirates Haaland must be operating perilously close to absolute zero, somewhat adjacent to Havertz confidence in front of goal.”
46 min Arsenal begin the second half. No changes on either side.
Half-time reading
“Hi Rob,” says Stephen Carr. “The key takeaway from this game is that Liverpool are going to walk the league.”
Half time: Arsenal 1-0 Man City
Arsenal lead through Martin Odegaard’s early goal, lovingly gift-wrapped by Manuel Akanji and Kai Havertz. It was an intriguing rather than exciting first half. Confusing, too. At times, in those micro games Mikel Arteta spoke about beforehand, Arsenal were rampant, yet David Raya has been the busier keeper. He made one stunning save from Josko Gvardiol and a really good one to deny Savinho. At the other end, Ortega’s poor pass should have led to a second goal for Arsenal; Havertz couldn’t take the chance.
44 min: Good save by Raya! Nunes stands up a cross that is about to be cleared by Timber when the backpedalling Saliba heads it away from him. It runs to Savinho, whose snapshot takes a big deflection and is saved low to his right by Raya. That another’s excellent save, if not quite as stunning as the first.
44 min City have 61 per cent possession but only six touches in the opposition penalty area. Arsenal have had 39 and four.
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42 min Foden sprays a pass out to Gvardiol, who hammers a tremendous first-time cross into the area. The diving Raya gets a slight touch and that allows Lewis-Skelly to get between Bernardo Silva and the ball. Really good defending.
40 min The early goal was perfect for Arsenal, who can defend as deep as they like and ensure there’s no space in behind for Haaland. City, in truth, have been pretty poor. Arsenal haven’t been much better, just less error-prone at the back. Odegaard has been good though; few genuinely creative players have his consistency.
As I type the above filler, Haaland has a touch when he heads a cross back towards somebody in the area. Arsenal clear.
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38 min Erling Haaland hasn’t touched the ball since the fourth minute. I know this because Peter Drury has just said it on the TV coverage.
37 min Odegaard, the brighest attacker on the field so far, flicks an interesting pass towards Havertz in the area. Gvardiol wins the ball cleanly and then trips Havertz in his follow through; a few of the home crowd appeal for a penalty but there’s about as much chance of it being given as there is of Harshit Rana replacing Shivam Dube as a like-for-like concussion substitute.
36 min “In the pride-before-a-fall game,” says Niall Mullen, “I’ll see your ‘stay humble’ and raise you a ‘10 games from greatness’.”
In Gerard Houllier’s defence, he did preface it with ‘hopefully’. (Saying which, words cannot convey the relief I felt when Liverpool lost to Leverkusen, given the winners were on course to meet Man Utd in the Champions League semi-final.)
34 min City are starting to pick up where they left off before the shock of that Havertz sitter. But they still aren’t particularly threatening; in fact the player who has had most time on the ball in the final third is Matheus Nunes. I’m surprised Savinho hasn’t moved over to that side even for a few minutes. Myles Lewis-Skelly is an outstanding young left-back but Savinho can make a fool of anyone.
32 min City get through the Arsenal press for once, with Marmoush making ground on their left. Then they slow it down, as is their wont, until Foden’s cross hits Gabriel amidships and ricochets behind for a corner.
30 min “Was just looking at the table, and couldn’t help but notice that crisis club Everton will go above crisis club Man United if they win the game in hand they have over the 13 time Premiership winners,” says Simon McMahon. “Maybe Big Jim could have done worse than give David Moyes a go at Old Trafford?”
Stay humble.
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29 min City were having a decent spell leading up to that Havertz chance, but in the last few minutes it’s been all Arsenal.
26 min: What a chance for Kai Havertz! Maybe Gary Neville was right about Havertz not wanting to shoot after all. The chance came when Ortega played a wretched straight pass to Kovacic, 20 yards out facing his own goal. He was challenged superbly from behind by Rice, with the ball running to Havertz just inside the area. He took a beat, then another beat, before dragging the ball just wide of the far post. Even with Ortega there and Stones on the line, that was a glorious chance.
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26 min Timber is booked for a cynical foul on Savinho, who himself gets away with waving an imaginary card. Maybe the referee didn’t see it.
25 min Haaland, trying to get to a cross from the left, is penalised for a foul of his friend Myles Lewis-Skelly. Just before that Savinho dragged a shot into the side netting from a tight angle.
23 min: Stunning save by Raya! Marmoush’s near-post corner is met by the leaping Gvardiol, who powers a header across goal from six yards. Raya shows remarkable reactions to stick out his left hand and push the ball somewhere, anywhere. It loops up, hits the face of the crossbar and bounces in front of goal, where Saliba gets between Haaland and the ball. That’s one of the saves of the season.
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23 min Kovacic sprays a crossfield pass to Nunes, whose deep cross is headed behind by Timber for City’s first corner. Marmoush will take it…
21 min City are starting to have more of the ball, even if David Raya’s gloves remain unsullied. The next goal’s a big goal.
19 min “Is it true that the other Manchester side was thrashed at home earlier?” writes Liverpool fan Ian Copestake. “I see no evidence the game has ever been played on the pages of the only paper I trust, so thought I’d check the Guardian!”
Be humble.
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18 min Savinho raps a aquare pass into Marmoush, who controls it nicely on the half turn but then blooters high and wide from distance.
17 min Nothing much has happened apart from the goal, but Arsenal have been the most aggressive and penetrative team. I’m not convinced by the balance of City’s attacking trident – I’d move Savinho to the right and Marmoush to the left. And I obviously know better than arguably the greatest manager of all time.
15 min “Afternoon Mr Smyth!” writes Adam Hirst. “I guess Gabriel gave Haaland a ‘Stay humble’ as he passed on the way to celebrate the goal. Only Gerald Ratner has had a phrase backfire in a more spectacular way.”
13 min Partey wins a throw-in after making a good sliding tackle on Marmoush. The home crowd enjoyed that. They look the hungrier team just now.
11 min City haven’t settled and look especially vulnerable when Arsenal press high.
9 min Sky have just shown an off-the-ball replay of the goal, after which Gabriel shouted in the face of Erling Haaland. “That takes me back…” says Gary Neville, who received the same treatment from Thierry Henry at the Emirates in 2007.
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8 min “If this is indeed the last time we see Zinchenko in an Arsenal shirt, as the rumours seem to have it, then I suppose it might be in some way instructive to compare him with Andrey Arshavin,” begins Charles Antaki. “Both came in as a bit of a surprise, both made an immediate impact, and both sort of fizzled out. But then one left his playing career to support Vladimir Putin, while the other will carry on his desperate campaign to try to interest people in what’s happening in Ukraine. Both good as footballers, of course, but then the qualities diverge.”
6 min: Martinelli has a goal disallowed! It was a lovely finish, teased over Ortega with the outside of the boot after running onto Odegaard’s short through pass, but he was clearly offside.
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4 min You might argue, as Gary Neville has on Sky, that Havertz didn’t have the confidence to shoot. I’d prefer to see it as evidence of one of his greatest qualities; his ability to keep his brain in the fridge even when he’s in the opposition penalty area.
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Ortega gave the ball to Stones, who played a risky angled pass to Akanji 25 yards from goal. He dithered for a split second and was robbed by Trossard, with Rice pushing the ball through to Havertz – being played onside by Stones – on the left side of the area. He drew Ortega and squared the ball to Odegaard, who screwed the ball past the covering Stones from about 10 yards. It wasn’t the cleanest finish, not that he’ll care.
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GOAL! Arsenal 1-0 Man City (Odegaard 2)
Arsenal lead after a mistake from Manuel Akanji!
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1 min Havertz, 20 yards out, whistles a half-volley straight at Ortega. Decent effort.
1 min City kick off from left to right as we watch. Savinho has started on the left, with Foden on the right and Marmoush as the No10.
“Good morning from Pittsburgh!” writes Eric Peterson. “My takeaway from Jonathan Liew’s observations isn’t that Pep Guardiola has switched the sequence of his tactical Plan A and Plan B, but that you need both plans to get the best out of each one.
“You get more room and time for your over-the-top balls when the opponent knows you can tiki-taka through them like a sieve, and you get more space for your midfield artists when the opposition knows your fullbacks and wingers can flick the sprinkles off an ice cream cone from 60 yards away.
“It takes two, no matter which order you put them. Dec and Ant, Saunders and French, Laurie and Fry? No matter, just so long as they’re both there.”
Tell that to Zig and Zag.
A reminder of the teams ahead of kick off
Arsenal (possible 4-3-3) Raya; Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Lewis-Skelly; Odegaard, Partey, Rice; Martinelli, Havertz, Trossard.
Substitutes: Calafiori, Jorginho, Kiwior, Merino, Neto, Nwaneri, Sterling, Tierney, Zinchenko.
Manchester City (possible 4-3-3) Ortega; Nunes, Stones, Akanji, Gvardiol; Foden, Kovacic, Bernardo Silva; Savinho, Haaland, Marmoush,
Substitutes: Carson, De Bruyne, Grealish, Gundogan, Khusanov, Lewis, McAtee, O’Reilly, Vitor Reis.
Referee Peter Bankes.
Sky have Manchester City’s formation as 4-2-3-1 rather than 4-3-3, with Phil Foden as the No10. It’ll might end up being a hybrid of the two.
Manchester City (4-2-3-1) Ortega; Nunes, Stones, Akanji, Gvardiol; Bernardo Silva, Kovacic; Savinho, Foden, Marmoush; Haaland.
As does Pep Guardiola
There are places in the Premier League – this is one of them – that are in the calendar from the start of the season. They’ve had the same manager, Mikel, is it five or six years? The last two years they’ve been getting better and they were close, and they are still fighting Liverpool. It’s an exceptional team in all departments, but at the same time we are playing for something important as well.
It will be so intense. The way they play, you have to challenge them. It will be quite similar [to September], I would say.
Mikel Arteta speaks
We know what’s at stake. We are used to playing this type of game so we know what we need to do to win: be better than the opposition and create the atmosphere that we need here.
Emotionally, it’s a game where you have to be in control. There will be different phrases, micro games to be played: things we can do with the ball, how we can dominate the game, how composed we are, set-pieces, how we adapt.
Here’s the Premier League table going into this afternoon’s game
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Liverpool | 23 | 35 | 56 |
| 2 | Arsenal | 23 | 23 | 47 |
| 3 | Nottm Forest | 24 | 13 | 47 |
| 4 | Man City | 23 | 17 | 41 |
| 5 | Newcastle | 24 | 13 | 41 |
| 6 | Chelsea | 23 | 15 | 40 |
| 7 | AFC Bournemouth | 24 | 13 | 40 |
| 8 | Aston Villa | 24 | -3 | 37 |
| 9 | Fulham | 24 | 4 | 36 |
| 10 | Brighton | 24 | -3 | 34 |
| 11 | Brentford | 24 | 0 | 31 |
| 12 | Crystal Palace | 24 | -2 | 30 |
| 13 | Man Utd | 24 | -6 | 29 |
| 14 | Tottenham Hotspur | 24 | 11 | 27 |
| 15 | West Ham | 23 | -16 | 27 |
| 16 | Everton | 23 | -5 | 26 |
| 17 | Wolverhampton | 24 | -18 | 19 |
| 18 | Leicester | 24 | -28 | 17 |
| 19 | Ipswich | 24 | -27 | 16 |
| 20 | Southampton | 24 | -36 | 9 |
Today’s Premier League results
Brentford 0-2 Tottenham
Man Utd 0-2 Crystal Palace
‘There should be a little bit of heat sometimes’
Read Jonathan Liew on Omar Marmoush
Now defences have to deal with the threat of Haaland dropping deep and Marmoush running in behind, or Marmoush staying wide and Haaland running in behind, or both running in behind, or both tucking in and Phil Foden running in behind, or some other combination of mayhem that exists only in Guardiola’s head. In essence City are becoming a primarily direct team with a short-passing game as their backup, whereas until recently it was the other way around.
Pep Guardiola on the 2-2 draw with Arsenal in September
The game was emotional for Erling and it’s not easy when you have 90 minutes and you know Gabriel and the central defenders push him and hug him and hug him and kiss him, and these kinds of things. He had to react. Arsenal are a physical team – in a good way in many aspects – and at the end what happened through the emotions happened. So it’s done.
Whose bright idea was it to schedule a football match at the business end of the transfer window?
“I am following the buildup with you from Cancun, and hoping the hotel bar has Max so I can watch most of the match,” writes my colleague Philip Cornwall. “But the coach to the airport picks us up about 15 minutes before the final whistle. The question is, will you and the MBM be worth paying five pounds to EE for, or do I wait for the airport to see how it finished?”
I’ll take the temperature of the game after 70 minutes and let you know. If it’s as hot as the return game it’ll worth every all 300 pennies.
Arsenal and City met earlier today in the WSL. Another seven-goal thriller please lads!
Team news
David Raya has recovered and will be in net for Arsenal – but Ederson is unfit to Stefen Ortega starts in goal for Manchester City. Omar Marmoush is preferred to Kevin De Bruyne.
Raya’s return means Arsenal make a single change from last weekend’s win at Wolves, with the fit-again Martin Odegaard in for Ethan Nwaneri. Pep Guardiola makes three changes to the City team that beat Chelsea 3-1 eight days ago: Ortega for Ederson, John Stones for Abdukodir Khusanov and Savinho for Ilkay Gundogan.
Arsenal (possible 4-3-3) Raya; Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Lewis-Skelly; Odegaard, Partey, Rice; Martinelli, Havertz, Trossard.
Substitutes: Calafiori, Jorginho, Kiwior, Merino, Neto, Nwaneri, Sterling, Tierney, Zinchenko.
Manchester City (possible 4-3-3) Ortega; Nunes, Stones, Akanji, Gvardiol; Foden, Kovacic, Bernardo Silva; Savinho, Haaland, Marmoush,
Substitutes: Carson, De Bruyne, Grealish, Gundogan, Khusanov, Lewis, McAtee, O’Reilly, Vitor Reis.
Referee Peter Bankes.
Updated
Preamble
When Arsenal and Manchester City slugged it out at the Etihad in September, it was clear the return fixture had the potential to be a title decider. But few of us expected a third party to be involved. Liverpool lead the Premier League by nine points with 15 games remaining and are tantalisingly close to their 20th league championship. For Arsenal, it’s simple: if they don’t win this afternoon, slim will leave town and their title hopes will be over for another year.
They may already be over, such is Liverpool’s relentless excellence. But Arsenal v City has become an event in itself. I can’t be the only person getting I’ll See You Out There vibes about this match. That famous game, played 20 years ago yesterday, was also between Arsenal and Manchester’s finest; it was the return fixture after a spiteful, controversial game in Manchester; and both teams had been blindsided by a rival with a new manager who were romping away with the title.
City are desperate to play in the Champions League next season and need every point they can get. But this is about more than points. Even if this was a mid-table game with nothing riding on it, they would be desperate to beat each other.
Kick off 4.30pm.
Updated
