Key events
59 min That was a weirdly poor pass from Foden. Gary Neville is speculating that his view of Partey might have been obscured by the referee. I’ve no idea, but I do know this game has exploded into life. Gvardiol finds Marmoush on the left side of the area; his first-time cross is crucually cut out by the sliding Gabriel.
Foden’s dodgy square pass, 30 yards from his own goal, was read and intercepted by Partey. He moved to the edge of the D and hit a speculative shot that took a huge deflection off Stones and beat Ortega. It came 38 seconds after the kick-off.
GOAL! Arsenal 2-1 Man City (Partey 57)
City were level for barely a minute!
Haaland has equalised with a brilliant header. Savinho made a good run from left to right to receive Foden’s pass and create just enough space to stand up a terrific cross towards the far post. Haaland got in front of Saliba on the six-yard line, jumped early and strained every last neck muscle to force a header back over Raya. That is a terrific finish. Haaland celebrates by running straight over to the City fans in the corner, smiling like the cat that got every last bi of cream.
GOAL! Arsenal 1-1 Man City (Haaland 55)
Erling Haaland lets his noggin do the talking!
53 min Odegaard’s cross deflects behind off Foden, but the referee doesn’t see it and gives a goalkick.
52 min City’s main attacking options on the bench are Kevin De Bruyne, Jack Grealish and Ilkay Gundogan. This might actually be a day for Gundogan, given the intelligence of his movement. City have struggled to find any space in the final third.
51 min Foden is fouled 35 yards from goal by a combination of Lewis-Skelly and Odegaard. Foden’s free-kick is headed up in the air by Havertz and cleared by Rice.
50 min Kovacic and Haaland combine neatly to find Marmoush on the left side of the area. He’s well challenged by Saliba and the danger peters out. Gary Neville thinks Haaland might have hit the ball on the turn from the edge of the area instead of finding Marmoush. It did open up for a split-second, though whether that would have been enough time to get a shot away I don’t know.
48 min City pick up where they left off before half-time, with lots of harmless passing. Eventually a crossfield pass bounces over the head of Nunes and out for a throw-in.
47 min “I have previously joked in these parts about a Danny Ings heat map requiring thermals and a woolly hat, and Antonio’s doing a passable imitation of the heat death of the Universe,” begins Brian Withington. “Meanwhile at the Emirates Haaland must be operating perilously close to absolute zero, somewhat adjacent to Havertz confidence in front of goal.”
46 min Arsenal begin the second half. No changes on either side.
Half-time reading
“Hi Rob,” says Stephen Carr. “The key takeaway from this game is that Liverpool are going to walk the league.”
Half time: Arsenal 1-0 Man City
Arsenal lead through Martin Odegaard’s early goal, lovingly gift-wrapped by Manuel Akanji and Kai Havertz. It was an intriguing rather than exciting first half. Confusing, too. At times, in those micro games Mikel Arteta spoke about beforehand, Arsenal were rampant, yet David Raya has been the busier keeper. He made one stunning save from Josko Gvardiol and a really good one to deny Savinho. At the other end, Ortega’s poor pass should have led to a second goal for Arsenal; Havertz couldn’t take the chance.
44 min: Good save by Raya! Nunes stands up a cross that is about to be cleared by Timber when the backpedalling Saliba heads it away from him. It runs to Savinho, whose snapshot takes a big deflection and is saved low to his right by Raya. That another’s excellent save, if not quite as stunning as the first.
44 min City have 61 per cent possession but only six touches in the opposition penalty area. Arsenal have had 39 and four.
42 min Foden sprays a pass out to Gvardiol, who hammers a tremendous first-time cross into the area. The diving Raya gets a slight touch and that allows Lewis-Skelly to get between Bernardo Silva and the ball. Really good defending.
40 min The early goal was perfect for Arsenal, who can defend as deep as they like and ensure there’s no space in behind for Haaland. City, in truth, have been pretty poor. Arsenal haven’t been much better, just less error-prone at the back. Odegaard has been good though; few genuinely creative players have his consistency.
As I type the above filler, Haaland has a touch when he heads a cross back towards somebody in the area. Arsenal clear.
38 min Erling Haaland hasn’t touched the ball since the fourth minute. I know this because Peter Drury has just said it on the TV coverage.
37 min Odegaard, the brighest attacker on the field so far, flicks an interesting pass towards Havertz in the area. Gvardiol wins the ball cleanly and then trips Havertz in his follow through; a few of the home crowd appeal for a penalty but there’s about as much chance of it being given as there is of Harshit Rana replacing Shivam Dube as a like-for-like concussion substitute.
36 min “In the pride-before-a-fall game,” says Niall Mullen, “I’ll see your ‘stay humble’ and raise you a ‘10 games from greatness’.”
In Gerard Houllier’s defence, he did preface it with ‘hopefully’. (Saying which, words cannot convey the relief I felt when Liverpool lost to Leverkusen, given the winners were on course to meet Man Utd in the Champions League semi-final.)
34 min City are starting to pick up where they left off before the shock of that Havertz sitter. But they still aren’t particularly threatening; in fact the player who has had most time on the ball in the final third is Matheus Nunes. I’m surprised Savinho hasn’t moved over to that side even for a few minutes. Myles Lewis-Skelly is an outstanding young left-back but Savinho can make a fool of anyone.
32 min City get through the Arsenal press for once, with Marmoush making ground on their left. Then they slow it down, as is their wont, until Foden’s cross hits Gabriel amidships and ricochets behind for a corner.
30 min “Was just looking at the table, and couldn’t help but notice that crisis club Everton will go above crisis club Man United if they win the game in hand they have over the 13 time Premiership winners,” says Simon McMahon. “Maybe Big Jim could have done worse than give David Moyes a go at Old Trafford?”
Stay humble.
29 min City were having a decent spell leading up to that Havertz chance, but in the last few minutes it’s been all Arsenal.
26 min: What a chance for Kai Havertz! Maybe Gary Neville was right about Havertz not wanting to shoot after all. The chance came when Ortega played a wretched straight pass to Kovacic, 20 yards out facing his own goal. He was challenged superbly from behind by Rice, with the ball running to Havertz just inside the area. He took a beat, then another beat, before dragging the ball just wide of the far post. Even with Ortega there and Stones on the line, that was a glorious chance.
26 min Timber is booked for a cynical foul on Savinho, who himself gets away with waving an imaginary card. Maybe the referee didn’t see it.
25 min Haaland, trying to get to a cross from the left, is penalised for a foul of his friend Myles Lewis-Skelly. Just before that Savinho dragged a shot into the side netting from a tight angle.
23 min: Stunning save by Raya! Marmoush’s near-post corner is met by the leaping Gvardiol, who powers a header across goal from six yards. Raya shows remarkable reactions to stick out his left hand and push the ball somewhere, anywhere. It loops up, hits the face of the crossbar and bounces in front of goal, where Saliba gets between Haaland and the ball. That’s one of the saves of the season.
23 min Kovacic sprays a crossfield pass to Nunes, whose deep cross is headed behind by Timber for City’s first corner. Marmoush will take it…
