Manchester City v Arsenal (2024-25)

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Manchester City v Arsenal (2024–25)

Manchester City Arsenal 2 2
HT:1–2 Report
Event	Premier League 2023-24
Date	Saturday 21 September 2024
Venue	Etihad Stadium, Manchester
Player of the Match	David Raya
Referee	Michael Oliver
Weather	14 °C (57 °F)
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Manchester City v Arsenal was a match which took place at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday 21 September 2024.

Team News

Manchester City

Manchester City midfielder Kevin De Bruyne could be involved despite being forced off at half-time against Inter Milan on Wednesday.

Nathan Ake and Oscar Bobb remain on the sidelines.

Arsenal

Arsenal welcome back Declan Rice to Premier League football after he missed the win over Tottenham last weekend due to suspension.

Midfielders Martin Odegaard and Mikel Merino are still out, along with defenders Kieran Tierney, Takehiro Tomiyasu and Oleksandr Zinchenko.

Match facts

Head-to-head

• Manchester City are unbeaten in nine home league games against Arsenal since a 2-0 defeat in January 2015 (W7, D2).
• The four points Arsenal won against City last season was double the amount they managed across their previous 15 top-flight meetings.
• The Gunners kept a clean sheet in both league encounters with City last season, having conceded at least once in their previous 16 clashes.
• Arsenal's only goal in their last six visits to the Etihad was scored by Rob Holding in a 4-1 defeat in April 2023.
• Arsenal have won 99 of the 211 meetings in all competitions (D47, L65). In their history they have only recorded 100 wins against Everton, while it is the most defeats City have suffered against an opponent.

Manchester City

• Manchester City are looking to become the first team in English top-flight history to win their opening five league matches in five seasons.
• City have won 13 consecutive top-flight games since a 0-0 home draw against Arsenal on 31 March.
• They are on a club record run of 47 successive home matches unbeaten in all competitions since a 2-1 defeat against Brentford in November 2022.
• Pep Guardiola has only won more fixtures as Manchester City manager against Burnley (17) than he has versus Arsenal (16).
• City have equalled their longest run of consecutive Premier League home matches without a clean sheet under Guardiola of six.
• Erling Haaland’s tally of nine goals in the opening four league games this season is the most by a top-flight player since 1951-52 when Jack Rowley also scored nine in four for Manchester United.
• The fewest appearances any player has taken to reach double figures in a Premier League campaign is six, by Mick Quinn in 1992-93 and Haaland himself in 2022-23.
• Haaland is aiming to become only the second player after Luis Suarez in December 2013 to score multiple goals in four consecutive Premier League appearances.
• He has scored more Premier League goals this season than any of the other 19 top-flight clubs.

Arsenal

• Arsenal have won six consecutive Premier League away games since drawing 0-0 at Manchester City on 31 March.
• The Gunners could become the first side in Premier League history to go 12 successive matches without trailing in an away match.
• They have kept a clean sheet in nine of their past 10 away league fixtures.
• However, Arsenal have only won three of their 29 Premier League away matches against the reigning champions.
• Since the start of last season, Mikel Arteta’s side have scored an unrivalled 24 top-flight goals from set pieces, excluding penalties.
• Arteta has lost nine competitive matches as a manager against City, three more than he has versus any other opponent.
• He is aiming to become only the second coach after Ole Gunnar Solskjaer at Manchester United to keep three consecutive top-flight clean sheets against a team managed by Pep Guardiola.
• Bukayo Saka could become only the second player after Thierry Henry in 2004-05 to provide an assist in each of a team’s first five Premier League matches to a season.

Match Report

John Stones scrambled home an equaliser seconds from time amid chaos and controversy to deny Arsenal a famous victory against Manchester City at Etihad Stadium.

Arsenal had mounted a magnificent rearguard action following the first half-dismissal of Leandro Trossard - and stood moments away from arguably the finest moment in manager Mikel Arteta's reign - until substitute Stones forced in following a well-worked short corner at the end of seven minutes of added time.

There will be pride as well as pain for the Gunners, who went behind early on to Erling Haaland’s 100th goal for Manchester City but turned a thrilling encounter on its head to lead before the interval.

In moments of huge significance, City lost talisman Rodri with a knee injury after 21 minutes, manager Pep Guardiola's mood worsening even further when Arsenal defender Riccardo Calafiori swept home an angled finish high past Ederson seconds later.

Arsenal's set-piece expertise was in evidence again as Gabriel, in a replica of his winner at Tottenham last week, headed home a corner at the far post seconds into first-half stoppage time.

The most contentious incident came seconds before the break when Arsenal's Trossard was given a second yellow card for kicking the ball away, leaving the visitors nursing a sense of injustice after City's Jeremy Doku had escaped punishment for a similar offence.

It set the scene for a City siege after the break, but Arsenal defended with courage, resilience and organisation, aided by the heroics of goalkeeper David Raya, only to be denied right at the end - as they were on the brink of inflicting the first home Premier League defeat on the champions since Brentford won at Etihad Stadium in November 2022.

Stones' dramatic intervention means City stay top of the Premier League.

Arteta may have won the FA Cup against Chelsea in 2020 - but if they had survived just a matter of seconds longer in a frantic finale at Manchester City, this may just have been the best win of his managerial career.

The Gunners were simply magnificent in defence of a 2-1 lead, their task made harder by Trossard's foolish decision to effectively invite a second yellow card from referee Michael Oliver seconds before half-time when he kicked the ball away following a needless barge into Bernardo Silva.

City camped out in the Arsenal half in what became an exercise in attack against defence but, with Ben White replacing Bukayo Saka at the break as a defensive reinforcement, Arteta's team were brilliantly drilled and played without a hint of panic as the Premier League champions became ever more desperate in search of an equaliser.

Arsenal keeper David Raya was again flawless as he commanded his area and repelled all City's attacks, so it was perhaps inevitable they were only broken down amid a pile of bodies and a last-second scramble at a corner.

Arteta and his players could rightly point, as they did when Declan Rice was sent off recently for a second yellow card after kicking the ball away against Brighton, that there was inconsistency in Oliver's failure to punish Doku for doing the same thing earlier in the first half, but it was needless from the Belgian and put Arsenal under the sort of pressure they were eventually unable to resist.

Arsenal were on top, in the lead, and playing against a City side robbed of their talisman Rodri through an early injury. It left the Gunners, who had posed real attacking threat, with a backs-to-the-wall task.

What is without question is that Arsenal have once again proved, as they did when winning at Aston Villa and Tottenham, their mettle and stomach for this title fight, pushing City right to the edge and within seconds of their first win at Etihad Stadium since January 2015.

Manchester City boss Guardiola's wild animation throughout the swings of fortunes that characterised this all-action meeting of the Premier League's two superpowers said everything about its importance.

Guardiola recognises that Arsenal, and his former assistant Arteta, are the biggest threat to City claiming a fifth successive Premier League crown and was keen to strike an early psychological blow.

He pumped his fists wildly towards City's fans when intense pressure was rewarded with Haaland's clinical finish after nine minutes, the striker scoring his 100th City goal in 105 appearances from Savinho's inviting through ball.

Guardiola's joy did not last, kicking his seat in a rage when Calafiori equalised, although whether his anger was because Arsenal had stolen a march with a quick free-kick - or his players were badly caught out - was unclear.

It took all City's patience to finally make that late breakthrough when all seemed lost, Guardiola's side lacking their usual fluency without the injured Kevin de Bruyne.

City will wait anxiously to discover the extent of Rodri's injury as he appeared to twist his knee in a tangle with Thomas Partey at a corner. It was a painful experience all round for the outstanding midfield who means so much to Guardiola's side, having already been pole-axed by the shoulder of Arsenal's Kai Havertz seconds after kick-off.

This was a game that lived up to hype and expectation, with goals incident and controversy - Guardiola celebrating again when Stones pounced at the end of a game that left players, managers and fans drained.

Match

Details

21 September 2024 15:00 BST	Manchester City	2–2	Arsenal	Etihad Stadium, Manchester Referee: Michael Oliver
	Haaland  9' Stones  90+8'	HT:1–2 Report	Calafiori  22' Gabriel  45+1' Trossard  34', 45+8'

Manchester City

Arsenal

31 Ederson 23' 02 Kyle Walker 78' 03 Rúben Dias 45+1' 25 Manuel Akanji 24 Joško Gvardiol 20 Bernardo Silva 90+1' 16 Rodri 21' 19 İlkay Gündoğan 26 Savinho 78' 09 Erling Haaland 11 Jérémy Doku 70' Substitutes: 05 John Stones 78' 08 Mateo Kovačić 21' 10 Jack Grealish 78' 18 Stefan Ortega 27 Matheus Nunes 33 Scott Carson 47 Phil Foden 70' 82 Rico Lewis 87 James McAtee Manager: Pep Guardiola

22 David Raya 12 Jurriën Timber 90+2' 02 William Saliba 06 Gabriel 33 Riccardo Calafiori 74' 07 Bukayo Saka 46' 05 Thomas Partey 45+6' 41 Declan Rice 83' 11 Gabriel Martinelli 87' 29 Kai Havertz 19 Leandro Trossard  34', 45+8' Substitutes: 04 Ben White 46' 09 Gabriel Jesus 87' 90+6' 15 Jakub Kiwior 74' 20 Jorginho 30 Raheem Sterling 32 Neto 47 Maldini Kacurri 49 Myles Lewis-Skelly 90+2' 65' 53 Ethan Nwaneri Manager: Mikel Arteta

Man of the Match: David Raya Assistant referees: Stuart Burt Dan Cook Fourth official: Andy Madley VAR: John Brooks Assistant VAR: Richard West

Match rules 90 minutes, no extra time or penalties. Three points awarded to winner, none to loser. One point awarded to each in the event of a draw. Nine named substitutes Maximum of five substitutions

Match Stats

Manchester City	Arsenal

Possession ball
77%	23%

Shots
33	5

Shots on target
11	3

Corners
8	2

Fouls
7	10

See also

• 2024–25 Premier League: Match day 5

External links

• Match report at BBC.co.uk
• Match report at Premier League.com

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