Arsenal vs Man City: The start to the season has not been perfect for the reigning treble winners Manchester City. Their fall started with a 1-0 defeat against Newcastle United around 10 days ago. Since then, they have now lost 2 consecutive Premier League games. The most recent defeat came yesterday against Arsenal. Last season’s star Erling Haaland is yet to show his magic. However, his temper has started showing in the meantime. Following the defeat, Haaland and Kyle Walker seemingly got into an argument with Arsenal staff.
Both Erling Haaland and Kyle Walker seemed to be on edge at the end of the Arsenal vs Man City game. With frustration running wild, as Man City players were walking towards the tunnel, Haaland and Walker seemed to get into an argument with some Gunners’ staff. The fight was controlled, but it mainly involved the two players and a few of Arsenal’s backroom staff including former City coach Nicolas Jover. When asked about the incident during the post-match press conference, Cityzens coach Pep Guardiola said, “I know what happened, but I’m not going to say.”
Manchester City started their season with a perfect 100% winning run until their EFL Cup third-round match. They lost their first match of the season in this match against Newcastle United. This also saw them get eliminated from the competition. It felt like a domino effect when they lost against Wolves by a 2-1 margin in their very next Premier League match. They made a comeback in their midweek fixture in the Champions League against RB Leipzig. However, they conspicuously struggled in the match.
Their next match this Saturday was never easy as last season’s title contenders and rivals were Man City’s opponents. Additionally, these opponents or Arsenal were approaching the match with one of only two teams in the league to still have remained unbeaten. They can still boast about the unbeaten record as they have secured a 1-0 victory over Man City. Erling Haaland was phenomenal last season for the reigning champions. However, he has not been as effective so far into the season.
Man City were missing some of their key players due to injuries. Mikel Arteta and Co. took full advantage of the opportunity. They left it late to break the deadlock and win the match through that goal. Gabriel Martinelli scored an all-important goal in the 86th minute which won them the match. It may not have been Man City’s day, but they were lucky in some aspects. Mateo Kovacic was lucky to escape a red card owing to his two dangerous fouls in the first-half of the game.
He fouled Martin Odegaard and Declan Rice. For his foul on the Gunners captain, Kovacic received a yellow card following a lengthy VAR check by the referee. However, he received no punishment for the second one. Hence, Man City were lucky to not go down in the first half alone. However, their luck also seems to be testing them with Haaland now going 3 consecutive games without scoring any goals. Man City need to pull up if they want to give this season’s title contenders a run for their money.
