Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta and his players could not
hide their pain in the pouring Mancunian rain as a statement win they would
rate higher than any other was snatched away at the death.
The clock read 97 minutes and 14 seconds – those 14 seconds
crucial to the chaotic conclusion – when John Stones rewarded Manchester City’s
increasingly desperate efforts with an equaliser.
City manager Pep Guardiola led celebrations that smacked of
victory rather than a point claimed at the last, this in itself a testimony to
the tortuous experience this increasingly mature and steely Arsenal put them
through.
Arsenal were heartbroken but when the bitter disappointment
disperses they can look back on this brilliantly organised and brave
performance, laced, it must be said, with high levels of gamesmanship, as
further compelling evidence that they are the real deal.
This was billed as the clash of the Premier League
heavyweights, the opportunity to inflict early psychological blows with City
and Arsenal primed for a title race to the finish.
For once, the hype and high expectations were justified,
with even the weather obliging with biblical conditions and black clouds
overhead that set a mood of foreboding.
Erling Haaland, with inevitability, crowned a ferocious City
start after nine minutes with his 100th goal in 105 starts – but that was as
good as it got for the champions until Stones stepped in.
City’s peerless midfield man Rodri, who had already been
pole-axed by Kai Havertz’s shoulder seconds after kick-off, limped away 21
minutes later following an awkward tangle with Thomas Partey at a corner.
Seconds later Arsenal were level, Italy defender Riccardo
Calafiori making amends for letting Savinho escape too easily for Haaland’s
opener, with a sumptuous finish that left Guardiola in a rage, kicking his seat
in frustration at referee Michael Oliver allowing a quick free-kick and his
players for being caught by it.
Gabriel repeated the treatment meted out to Tottenham by
heading Arsenal ahead from a corner at the far post in first-half stoppage time
before the moment that shaped the rest of this gripping game.
Leandro Trossard followed up a clumsy barge on Bernardo
Silva by booting the ball away. It was a lesson not learned after Declan Rice
was sent off for a similar offence against Brighton recently. As the saying
goes, he gave the referee a decision to make and he made it. Off he went.
Trossard can have no complaints but Arsenal can cry
injustice, as they did against Brighton, about inconsistency as City’s Jeremy
Doku escaped punished for the same offence earlier.
It changed the entire emphasis for the visitors, who had to
revert to a rearguard action after overturning City’s lead and taking control.
The stage was set for a siege on the Gunners' goal and so it
proved. Pretty much every gaze inside a frantic Etihad Stadium was fixed on one
side of the pitch for that 53-minute second half.
Arsenal only had 22% possession overall, their second lowest
recorded since 2003/04, after 20% against City in August 2011. The picture of
the second half is accurately painted by the fact they only had 12.5%
possession.
It is a measure of Arsenal’s defensive discipline that they
could spend so much time without the ball against a side of City’s quality and
survive for so long, although not quite long enough.
They retreated into their area but such was their
organisation, courage, numbers and willingness to throw themselves in front of
anything, that seconds ticked down to what would have been their first victory
here since January 2015 and Guardiola's first home loss in the league since
Brentford won in November 2022.
The champions got their goal - but only just.
City managed only one shot on target against Arsenal in
March’s goalless draw at the Etihad. Plenty more came in here but keeper David
Raya confirmed his growing stature and importance with confident command of his
area and an ability to use all parts of his anatomy.
Arteta was rightly proud amid the pain, insisting his side
had performed "a miracle" in holding out for so long.
"Absolutely I am proud," he said. "The way
the players performed in normal conditions was excellent.
"It was difficult, which is why they have not lost here
for 40-something games. Then there is the context that we are thrown into
playing with ten men for 55 minutes. That tells you the story and the character
of our players."
It was a display of defiance that would have brought tears
to the eyes of those old Arsenal warhorses Tony Adams and Martin Keown, not to
mention the suspicion among City fans that the dark arts of delay were being
utilised as play was interrupted by injury breaks to Raya and others,
infuriating the home support.
The time is coming to end the regular questions about the
Gunners' mettle, character and stomach for the fight.
Arsenal’s early fixture list handed them three hazardous
assignments away to Aston Villa, Tottenham and Manchester City. The first two
were won in gritty fashion while they were only seconds away from what they
could have rightly regarded as a landmark triumph in the third.
The Stones scramble prevented Arteta's side claiming top
spot in the Premier League and ensured City returned to the summit but
everything on show here should give the Gunners, if it were needed, further
confidence and self-belief that the ability to make the leap to champions is
within their grasp.
It remains to be seen what wider significance that late
concession of two points to the side they are trying to eclipse assumes for
Arsenal but, in extremis, they showed again there is much to admire in what
Arteta is building.
