Key events
49 min Now Kovacic shoots over from 22 yards after a cutback from Bernardo Silva. It bounced up awkwardly.
48 min Walker pings a flat cross towards the far post, where Haaland gets above Saliba and heads straight at Raya. Saliba did well to ensure Haaland couldn’t get a run at the ball.
47 min These are the revised line-ups for what is likely to be an extended training session: City attack v Arsenal defence.
Manchester City (4-1-2-3) Ederson; Walker, Akanji, Dias, Gvardiol; Kovacic Bernardo, Gundogan; Savinho, Haaland, Doku.
Arsenal (5-4-0) Raya; Timber, White, Saliba, Gabriel, Calafiori; Havertz, Partey, Rice, Martinelli.
46 min Arsenal begin the second half. White has gone to play as the right centre-back in what is essentially a 5-4-0 formation. Havertz is playing from the right, Martinelli is on the left.
Half-time substitution Arsenal are bringing on Ben White for… Bukayo Saka. Interesting. It looks like a back five straight from the off.
A few of you have suggested Michael Oliver didn’t have to send Trossard off. Isn’t it a pretty clear edict? If Oliver doesn’t book him, he gets marked down, loses his job and by 2025 he’s working as a barista in Whitstable.
That said, we’ve just seen footage of Doku kicking the ball away seconds before Trossard’s first yellow card. Arsenal will understandably be aggrieved about that.
“Arsenal need to channel the early Wenger-era sides,” says Tanay Padhi, “who were masters of playing with a man down.”
They were amazing, weren’t they? Who knows, maybe this will be their Anfield 2001.
Half-time reading
“Astounding, incomprehensible stupidity from Trossard,” says Charles Antaki, and he’s an Arsenal fan. “The only explanation is that his water bottle was contaminated with lead, which is known to reduce IQ by significant percentage points. He seems to have somehow managed to drink several gallons of it over the course of the first half.”
“There were nearly ten seconds between the referee having a word and the free kick being taken,” says Will Vignoles. “You’d think a defender of Walker’s vast experience, who is famously quick, might have used that time to get back in position, no?”
Half time: Man City 1-2 Arsenal
Last season, the games between City and Arsenal were dull and duller. Today’s first half was the complete opposite: utterly, at times disgustingly compelling.
City started magnificently and took the lead through a devastating goal from Erling Haaland. Then Rodri got injured, Riccardo Calafiori scored a stunning and controversial equaliser and the mood changed.
Gabriel headed Arsenal in front from a corner that was almost impossible to defend. But the mood changed again on the stroke of half time when Leandro Trossard was sent off for kicking the ball away.
45+9 min Trossard finally leaves the field after about 60 seconds of chuntering. Arteta puts his arm round him before he walks down the tunnel.
Trossard is sent off!
45+8 min The plot thickens. Trossard, booked earlier in the game, barges Bernardo Silva over and then kicks the ball away. Mikel Arteta is waving his hands around in frustration but those are the rules. Having said that, I’m pretty sure Doku did the same earlier in the half without being booked.
We’ll hear plenty about it, either way. Arteta is fuming.
45+7 min Partey is booked for a sliding foul on Gundogan (I think). An easy decision.
45+5 min “I willingly take back my prophecy that Arteta’s strategy was equivalent to having a plan until you got hit in the face,” says Charles Antaki. “It was all a masterpiece of planning, and allowing Haaland to get the first goal was a sophisticated gambit that Capablanca or Kasparov would have been proud of.”
45+4 min As Gary Neville stresses on Sky, Saka’s delivery for both Gabriel chances was nigh-on perfect.
45+3 min Blimey.
45+2 min There was a VAR check for a potential foul by Martinelli on Ederson, but the goal stands. Martinelli knew what he was doing, no question, but all he really did was stand his ground. With the current threshold it was never going to be overturned.
Ruben Dias has been booked, presumably for dissent.
It was exactly the same corner as the one in the 38th minute, but this time Gabriel got the header on target. He lost Kyle Walker – who was playing silly buggers before the corner was taken, patting Gabriel repeatedly – far too easily near the penalty spot. Saka again put the ball right under the crossbar, Ederson was blocked by Martinelli and Gabriel roared onto the scene to head in from three yards.
GOAL! Man City 1-2 Arsenal (Gabriel 45+1)
If at first you don’t succeed…
45 min Saka releases the overlapping Rice, who wins another corner for Arsenal. They’re dominating the game just now.
44 min City have lost much of their snap since the equaliser, though they are still dominating possession. Half-time will come at a good moment for them.
42 min: Chance for Arsenal! Gabriel decides to play Beckenbauer, strolling forward and sliding a slick return pass to release Martinelli on the left. He gets behind Walker and cuts the ball back sharply to Trossard, who shoots over from 15 yards on the stretch. It was an awkward ball to take first time but we’ve seen Trossard score not dissimilar chances in the past.
Martinelli has been Arsenal’s most dangerous attacker by a fair distance.
41 min “I’d like to know what the ref said during that break,” says Mark Childs. “Walker (and Saka) has just been instructed as captain ‘tell your players to calm down’, then shouldn’t he be given the time to do so?”
I don’t know about that, but he should have been given more time to get back to right-back. You can understand why City were so angry.
40 min City have had 72 per cent of the possession, which is remarkable, although Arsenal are probably having their best spell of the half as I type.
38 min: Chance for Arsenal! Saka curls a fantastic inswinging corner to the far post, where Gabriel heads over from barely four yards. What a chance! Ederson was out of the game, on the floor after running into Martinelli, so Gabriel only needed to get over the ball to score.
37 min Timber plays a good return pass to Saka, forcing Gvardiol to concede a corner. It’s Arsenal’s first, I think, and we know how dangerous they are at set-pieces.
36 min Doku gets involved for the first time, playing a quick give-and-go with Gvardiol before hitting a shot from the edge of the area that deflects behind. Savinho’s inswinger is headed away by Havertz.
34 min One big plus for Arsenal is that Timber has played Doku beautifully so far. Talking of Doku, he seems to kick the ball away but isn’t booked by Michael Oliver.
Trossard is given a yellow card for a tactical foul on Savinho. No argument with that.
32 min We’ve just seen a replay of the Arsenal goal. Kyle Walker was fuming because the referee called him and Bukayo Saka over in their role as captains, then allowed Arsenal to release Martinelli from the free-kick before Walker was able to get back.
Walker was also a bit slow to return to his position before the free-kick was taken. I can see both sides!
31 min Arsenal’s goal was a thing of peculiar beauty but that aside they have done very little in possession. They’ve defended a lot deeper since Haaland’s goal and are doing that part pretty well.
30 min A crisp 30-yarder from Walker is saved comfortably by Raya, diving to his right.
29 min Savinho beats Calafiori again and crosses early towards Haaland. Saliba gets across to make an important header. Calafiori has had a pretty torrid time in his day job, but his side hustle is going swimmingly.
28 min After a couple of minutes of frothing and foaming, City have picked up where they left off before Rodri’s injury. There’s still a spiteful edge to the match though, and there’s a fair chance it won’t end 1-1 or 11v11.
27 min “I know you’ve got the pace to handle Haaland, but isn’t he a bit taller than you?” says Joe Pearson. “No offence.”
Yeah but you know what they say: the first two feet are in the head.
26 min Imagine.
25 min Well that’s changed the mood. Until that point City had been rampant.
24 min It’s very rare that a player finds the top corner with an outswinger rather than an inswinger. Even rarer when it’s a left-back making his full debut.
City are furious about something but Riccardo Calafiori has just scored a screamer on his full debut. Partey took a quick free kick to find Martinelli in space on the left. He made good ground, then cut inside and laid the ball back to Calafiori just outside the area. Calafiori walked onto the ball and curled an extravagant left-foot shot that beat Ederson and nestled in the far corner. What a goal!
Pep Guardiola kicks a seat in frustration, while Ederson has been booked. City weren’t happy because they thought the free-kick was taken 10 yards away from where the original foul took place.
GOAL! Man City 1-1 Arsenal (Calafiori 22)
What the hell has just happened?
21 min: Man City substitution Mateo Kovacic replaces Rodri and immediately dispenses some three-fingered tactical advice.
The break allows Michael Oliver to have a word with both captains. It has been a very niggly start to the game.
21 min “Just as the Great White Shark is a brutal, efficient hunter killer, so Haaland is regarding scoring goals,” says Mary Waltz. “Who can stop him?”
Me, but Mikel won’t answer my bloody WhatsApps.
20 min Rodri is on his feet and limping very slowly to the touchline. His afternoon is over; let’s just hope it isn’t a serious injury.
18 min Rodri is sitting up now but looks pretty distressed – more, I suspect, because of the nature of the damage rather than the actual pain. He jarred his right leg as he fell and immediately clutched it when he hit the floor.
17 min The players were jockeying for position at a corner. Partey was tracking Rodri, they collided and then Rodri fell really awkwardly. I fear he has injured knee ligaments.
16 min Rodri is down again, this time holding the back of his leg. The City players have called for the physio. This doesn’t look good at all.
16 min Arsenal are under all kinds of pressure, and at the moment this game feels more 2022-23 than 2023-24.
15 min: Gundogan hits the post! It was a fine free-kick, curled round the side of the wall. Raya flew desperately to his left and the ball thumped off the outside of the post. Had that been on target I think it would have gone in.
