10-man Arsenal got here inside a minute of claiming their first win on the Etihad Stadium since 2015 however a late John Stones equaliser noticed us should accept a degree after an unimaginable efficiency.
A loopy opening 45 minutes noticed Erling Haaland hand the hosts a ninth-minute lead, however we fought again and after a rocket from Riccardo Calafiori on his full debut drew us degree, earlier than Gabriel as soon as once more headed in a nook to get us in entrance.
Nonetheless within the last second of the half Leandro Trossard was controversially dismissed for a second bookable offence for delaying the restart, leaving us to battle with 10 males for 45 minutes.
Regardless of relentless strain, we held agency for all of these and 6 of the seven added on on the finish of the half, however John Stones scrambled dwelling an equaliser to disclaim us a well-known win.
Learn extra
Highlights: Man Metropolis 2-2 Arsenal
Targets at both finish
An early warning signal noticed Ilkay Gundogan spin previous Gabriel to set himself up for a volley which he shanked effectively huge, however within the ninth minute we fell behind.
Savinho skipped previous Calafiori, broke infield and slipped a move behind our backline for Haaland to run onto, and he bore down on objective earlier than nudging the ball previous David Raya to hit double figures in simply 5 league video games.
We have been beneath the cosh within the early levels and Gundogan when wrapped a free-kick in opposition to the publish as Metropolis tried to discover a second, however they have been dealt a blow when Rodri was pressured off with a knee damage after an innocuous coming along with Thomas Partey on 20 minutes.
And we swiftly capitalised as when play resumed, a quickly-taken free-kick from Partey caught Metropolis napping. Gabriel Martinelli was in a position to get to the sting of the field and lay the ball again to Calafiori, who bent a scrumptious shot into the highest nook from 20 yards out that left Ederson clutching skinny air.
Gabi involves the fore
That noticed the competition turn into extra of a fair affair, and in direction of the top of it two huge possibilities got here our manner. Firstly, captain for the day Bukayo Saka whipped a nook into the field, and Gabriel obtained on the top of it, however in contrast to at Tottenham every week in the past, he couldn’t fairly steer his effort on the right track.
Then the Brazilian defender linked up with compatriot Martinelli down the left flank and the winger reduce the ball again right into a harmful space contained in the field, however beneath strain from a Metropolis defender Trossard diverted it over the crossbar.
And the strain advised in first-half stoppage time when this time Large Gabi obtained his objective in an nearly similar style. Saka despatched one other devilish nook into the world, and for the second week in a row our defender rose highest to knock it into the online and switch the sport on its head.
Learn extra
Arteta stuffed with delight at our battling show
Backs in opposition to the wall
However simply earlier than half-time, the sport took one other twist. Having been booked beforehand, Trossard challenged Bernardo Silva and cleared the ball away, a fraction after Michael Oliver had blown his whistle. The official harshly noticed it as time-wasting, sending the Belgian off and guaranteeing we must try to defend our lead a person shy for 45 minutes.
As to be anticipated, the second half started with an onslaught on our objective. Mateo Kovacic, Manuel Akanji and Kyle Walker all examined their luck from vary however to no avail, and David Raya did effectively to flick away a Haaland downward header, with Bernardo Silva hooking the unfastened ball over.
However a crimson wall was sitting deep and holding agency, persevering with to limit Pep Guardiola’s group to long-range efforts because the minutes ticked by. Josko Gvardial was subsequent to attempt his luck, twice forcing Raya to beat the ball away from hazard with a pair of highly effective blasts.
LATE BLOW
Our bodies continued to be placed on the road as our gamers threw every little thing at Metropolis’s photographs and ran themselves into the bottom attempting to maintain them at bay, with Myles Lewis-Skelly getting into the fray for his Gunners debut firstly of seven minutes of stoppage time.
However within the last minute of these, Metropolis lastly discovered a manner by means of. A nook noticed Jack Grealish ship the ball low into the field, and a clearance ricocheted into the trail of Stones who slammed the ball in to disclaim us the win, however that couldn’t take away from the unimaginable show that noticed us hold our unbeaten file intact.
Learn extra
Timber’s combination of feelings following Metropolis draw
Information and stats
Erling Haaland scored his one hundredth objective for Manchester Metropolis in all competitions, needing simply 105 appearances to hit the landmark.
Metropolis’s equaliser within the 98th minute was their newest objective scored on file (from 2006/07) in a Premier League match. It was from their twenty eighth shot of the second half, the joint-second highest ever by a facet on file (from 2003/04) in a single half of Premier League soccer, behind Man Metropolis’s 34 vs QPR in Might 2012.
We recorded simply 22% possession, our second-lowest on file (from 2003/04) in a Premier League recreation (after 20% vs Man Metropolis in August 2021). We averaged simply 12.5% possession within the second half at present.
We fell behind in a Premier League away recreation for the primary time in 2024, with this our twelfth such match on the highway this 12 months. Certainly, Haaland’s ninth-minute opener was the earliest we now have conceded dwelling or away within the league in 2024.
Haaland turned the primary participant in Premier League historical past to achieve 10 objectives in as few as 5 video games from the beginning of a season within the competitors.
Bukayo Saka turned the second participant in Premier League historical past to offer an help in every of a group’s first 5 video games of a season, after Thierry Henry in 2004/05.
Of Gabriel’s 16 Premier League objectives, 88% have been from corners (14), the best ratio of any participant with 10+ objectives in Premier League historical past.
Riccardo Calafiori was the twentieth participant to attain on his first Premier League begin for us, however solely the second of these to take action with a objective from outdoors the field, after Fabio Vieira in opposition to Brentford in September 2022.
What’s subsequent
We swap our consideration to the Carabao Cup on Wednesday when Bolton Wanderers arrive for the primary of 4 successive fixtures at Emirates Stadium. Leicester Metropolis observe them up on Saturday, earlier than the Champions League returns to N5 with the go to of Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday, October 1.
Copyright 2024 The Arsenal Soccer Membership Restricted. Permission to make use of quotations from this text is granted topic to acceptable credit score being given to www.arsenal.com because the supply.