MANCHESTER CITY DEFEAT ARSENAL IN CONTROVERSIAL WIN AT THE EMIRATES
Arsenal hosted the first Premier League game of the year on New Year’s Day as they welcomed league leaders Manchester City to the Emirates at half past noon BST on Saturday. The Gunners had not beaten Manchester City in the Premier League since 2015; with the sky blues having won 11 of their past 12 meetings in all competitions. The visitors were coming off of a ten-match winning streak in the league, with a 2-0 loss against Crystal Palace in late October the last time the cityzens dropped any points. The fourth-placed Gunners were also on an impressive run of form having won the last five games in all competitions, scoring 19 goals and conceding just twice.
The North Londoners were high on confidence and started the match brightly, albeit without their manager on the sidelines as Mikel Arteta had tested positive for COVID-19. The Emirates went into an uproar eight minutes into the game as Arsenal players and fans shouted for a penalty on what appeared to be a mistimed tackle on Martin Ødegaard by Ederson. VAR and referee Stuart Atwell –who was taking charge of his 149th match in the Premier League- waved play on.
Arsenal were not to be denied for long though as young English ace Bukayo Saka put the hosts in front after 31 minutes latching onto an inviting pass played into the box by left-back Kieran Tierney. The 20-year old has been in scintillating form this season and has already netted six times in the league.
Manchester City were struggling to get a foot into the game and didn’t register a shot on target until the second half. The defending champions were lucky to go into halftime only a goal behind with miscues and a couple of missed chances from Gabriel Martinelli keeping the scoreline at a close 1-0.
With Pep Guardiola declining to make any changes during the break, a change from his side had to come from the performance on the pitch. The sky blues responded with a more direct approach in the second half which paid off almost immediately with Granit Xhaka pulling Bernardo Silva’s shirt inside the box. The Portuguese winger dropped to the floor. Referee Stuart Atwell initially waved play on before video assistant referee Jarred Gillet advised him to review the incident on the pitch-side monitor. After review, he changed his mind and awarded Manchester City a third penalty in as many matches. Riyadh Mahrez stepped up and scored, sending Aaron Ramsdale the wrong way.
Two minutes later, referee Stuart Atwell was in the mix of things as he showed Arsenal defender Gabriel Magalhaes a second yellow card (first yellow card was apparently for kicking the turf on the penalty spot) and a subsequent red card after the Brazilian missed a tackle and fouled fellow countryman Gabriel Jesus on the halfway line.
Manchester City then almost went behind with miscommunication happening between Aymeric Laporte and Ederson as the Spanish defender headed back to his goalkeeper who had come off his line to collect the ball. The ball almost went into the back of the net before Nathan Ake made a daring goal-line clearance. Gabriel Martinelli hit the clearance goalwards but failed to hit the target as the ball clipped the post and went out for a goal kick.
The Champions League finalists eventually capitalized on playing against 10 men but had to wait until injury time to find the winner. A 93rd minute goal inside 6 yards from Rodri meant that Pep Guardiola’s men would head back to Manchester with all three points, as Arsenal couldn’t withstand the pressure and failed to properly clear a cross whipped in by Kevin De Bruyne.
The Gunners will see this as a missed opportunity and will (rightly so) be disappointed by the refereeing, with most of the pivotal decisions going against them and the sending off clearly incapacitating them against a very good Manchester City side. The loss puts them only two points ahead of North London rivals Tottenham Hotspur who won their away game at Watford and have two games in hand; and four ahead of Manchester United who are also yet to play two games.
The 2-1 win sends Manchester City 11 points clear off of Chelsea who host third-placed Liverpool on Sunday in an epic title-race showdown at Stamford Bridge. Manchester City will be hoping that both teams drop points in a stalemate but will relish in the fact that both teams cannot win tomorrow. At the moment, it’s onwards and upwards for the cityzens who start the year with a much needed win before they welcome Chelsea to the Etihad in two weeks’ time.
-Maher Abucheri
Twitter: @pabloikonyero