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A game that was both uneventful and fascinating ends level. Erling Haaland’s devastating early goal gave City something to defend, and Pep Guardiola went all in on a 1-0 victory by setting up a small army of defenders. Just when it looked like they had broken Arsenal’s spirit, the substitute Gabriel Martinelli took advantage of some rare space to score a delightful equaliser.
Unlike a year ago, there’s no needle at the final whistle. Erling Haaland embraces Declan Rice as a number of the players chat amiably.
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Full time: Arsenal 1-1 Man City
Liverpool extend their winning start to the season with a draw at the Emirates. Come on, you know what I mean.
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Updated at 19.37 CEST
90+8 min: Arsenal substitution Cristhian Mosquera for Martin Zubimendi, largely because City have a set-piece.
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90+6 min “If you can’t beat the world’s strongest wrists,” writes Tomasz Rykala, “lob them.”
Ha, yes. Not even Donnarumma could reach that.
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90+5 min The good news for Martinelli is that he has just scored a brilliant and priceless equaliser. The bad news is he won’t be starting a big game in the near future; that goal has cemented his role as an impact substitute. Or finisher, in the parlance of our time.
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Eze, just inside his own half, saw Martinelli’s run and pinged a sweet pass over a surprisingly high City defence. Martinelli timed his run perfectly from right to left, controlled the ball on the run and teased the deftest of lobs over Martinelli. It dropped from the sky in slow motion and bounced gently into the net. In the circumstances – collective and personal – that is the most brilliant finish.
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GOAL! Arsenal 1-1 Man City (Martinelli 90+3)
The Emirates is going ballistic after a fabulous equaliser from Gabriel Martinelli!
Gabriel Martinelli scores for Arsenal! Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The GuardianShare
Updated at 19.30 CEST
90+2 min “For those familiar with Peep Show,” says Luke Stevenson, “it feels like Arteta is watching this cynical, time-wasting, 9-0-1 defensive performance from City yelling ‘This is not my chickens coming home to roost.’”
‘For those familiar with Peep Show’ indeed. Are you familiar with the Guardian football readership?
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90 min There will be seven minutes of added time. Exactly the same as at the Etihad a year ago, when John Stones equalised in the eighth added minute.
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89 min Rice snapsa his head back in frustration after playing the ball straight out of play. Pep Guardiola gives one of the extra officials a kiss on the cheek after a playful interaction. He’s living his best life, playing 5-4-1.
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88 min No idea what formation Arsenal are playing now. The closest thing to a right-back is Ethan Nwaneri but he is essentially another central midfielder.
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87 min: Man City substitution John Stones and Savinho replace a limping Nico O’Reilly and Jeremy Doku. I guess Nathan Ake will go to left-back.
Doku started the game slowly but has been excellent in the second half.
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86 min “Arsenal aren’t laying a glove on the City centre-backs,” says Gary Neville on Sky. In the context – always context – of both teams and especially both managers’ careers, this has been a very odd football match.
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84 min: Arsenal substitution Ethan Nwaneri for Leandro Trossard.
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83 min Nico Gonzalez is booked for a cynical foul on Saka.
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82 min: Chance for Doku! City almost seal it on the break. Doku receives a return pass on the left side in the area, twists outside Gabriel but then pokes a nothing ball across the face of goal. My first impression was that he should have taken the shot himself, albeit from a tight angle.
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Updated at 19.17 CEST
81 min Rice curls the corner into the six-yard box. Donnarumma flaps it away and a City defender completes the clearance. It wasn’t totally convincing from Donnarumma but ultimately he did well as he had an entire bodysuit of Arsenal players around him.
Donnarumma has come for every corner which takes courage given how much difficulty he has had with some of them.
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Updated at 19.15 CEST
80 min Arsenal continue to probe and win another corner – although Trossard was well offside in the build up and City will have a legitimate grievance if the corner leads to a goal
Before it is taken, Gabriel Martinelli replaces Jurrien Timber.
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79 min “City have parked the bus!” writes Joe Pearson. “There is no God.”
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78 min These are the updated XIs.
Arsenal (4-1-2-3ish) Raya; Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Calafiori; Zubimendi; Eze, Rice; Saka, Gyokeres, Trossard.
Manchester City (5-4-1) Donnarumma; Nunes, Dias, Ake, Gvardiol, O’Reilly; Bernardo, Rodri, Nico, Reijnders; Doku.
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77 min Donnarumma has finally been booked for reading the first 200 pages of War and Peace during this afternoon’s match.
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76 min: Man City substitution Nico Gonzalez replaces Erling Haaland. Is this Pep sticking two fingers up at Arsenal after their 9-0-0 formation in the second half a year ago. Goodness knows. Doku has gone up front with Reijnders to the left, so it’s still 5-4-1.
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75 min Saka’s cross is headed over by Calafiori, who got across Nunes but had a lot to do.
I can’t remember a more defensive performance from a Pep Guardiola team, ever. I’ve probably forgotten one. I should stress this isn’t a criticism; I just find it fascinating.
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72 min Calafiori fouls Bernardo, who accepts the invitation to visit the canvas for 30 seconds or so. In fairness it looked quite painful.
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70 min City have weathered one storm and currently look reasonably comfortable. Might be time for Arsenal to introduce Gabriel Martinelli in his new role of finisher.
Gianluigi Donnarumma punches clear under unrelenting pressure from Arsenal. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The GuardianShare
Updated at 19.13 CEST
69 min Phil Foden had a very quiet game, mainly because City have barely had the ball. He didn’t play badly; he just ran around a lot, possibly wondering what on earth was going on.
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Updated at 19.03 CEST
68 min These are the revised line-ups.
Arsenal (4-1-2-3ish) Raya; Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Calafiori; Zubimendi; Eze, Rice; Saka, Gyokeres, Trossard.
Manchester City (5-4-1ish) Donnarumma; Nunes, Dias, Ake, Gvardiol, O’Reilly; Bernardo, Rodri, Reijnders, Doku; Haaland.
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67 min: Man City substitution Pep Guardiola is booked for something or other. Maybe it’s for crimes against attacking football: he has just replaced Phil Foden with Nathan Ake. This is hilarious, City are now playing a 5-4-1.
Pep Guardiola goes in the book. Photograph: Matthew Childs/Action Images/ReutersShare
Updated at 19.07 CEST
66 min As I type, City have had 30.8 per cent possession in this game. Anybody know the lowest for a Pep Guardiola team?
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64 min Saka has made a difference, a statement so unsurprising that I feel a bit stupid typing it. He is fouled 40 yards from goal by the increasingly frazzled O’Reilly, which allows Rice to whack another ball into the box. City clear from the seat of their pants.
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63 min I know, I know, but here’s the Premier League table as things stand.
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61 min A good move involving Eze and Timber leads to another Arsenal corner. Rice takes and this time City clear without alarm.
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60 min Saka curls an inviting corner beyond the far post. Donnarumma is baulked and the ball reaches Trossard, whose volley hits one of the 471 players inside the six-yard box. The Arsenal pressure is mounting.
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57 min: Chance for Haaland!
City break ruthlessly from that Arsenal corner. Doku runs 40 yards before timing an excellent through pass to Haaland, who bulldozes into the area but shoots too close to Raya from 15 yards. His save rebounds to Eze, who attempts to stab the ball clear but hits it straight against Rice. Thankfully for Arsenal it loops over the bar rather than into the vacant net.
Erling Haaland is absolutely terrifying. Photograph: Justin Setterfield/Getty ImagesShare
Updated at 18.57 CEST
56 min Trossard runs Nunes to win a corner on the left. He was much quieter than Madueke in the first half but is a more natural fit on that side of the pitch.
Donnarumma gets nowhere near Rice’s corner, leading to a mini-scramble until Trossard’s shot is blocked by Bernardo.
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Updated at 18.52 CEST
54 min A City goalkick allows Donnarumma to leaf through War and Peace again. As a neutral it’s fascinating to watch a Pep Guardiola team play like this.
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52 min Next goal’s a big goal, and right now Arsenal look like scoring it. Saka’s shot is blocked and ricochets across the area, with another Arsenal player (Gyokeres? Rice?) fresh-airing an attempted overhead kick.
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50 min: Donnarumma denies Eze
A storm is coming. Trossard’s cross is headed away to the edge of the area, where Eze controls the ball in the chest and whistles a half-volley that is beaten away by Donnarumma. Lovely strike but ultimately straight at the keeper.
Eberechi Eze goes close for Arsenal. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The GuardianShare
Updated at 18.54 CEST
48 min Saka controls a crossfield pass, beats Doku and stands up a dangerous cross. Dias heads it half clear, Reijnders muffs his clearance and Zubimendi shoots just over from the edge of the box.
The mood at the Emirates has changed since the introduction of Eze and Saka.
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Updated at 18.42 CEST
47 min I beg your pardon, it was Noni Madueke who went off at half-time, not Leandro Trossard. These are the revised line-ups.
Arsenal (4-1-2-3ish) Raya; Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Calafiori; Zubimendi; Eze, Rice; Saka, Gyokeres, Trossard.
Manchester City (4-1-2-3ish) Donnarumma; Nunes, Dias, Gvardiol, O’Reilly; Rodri; Bernardo, Reijnders; Foden, Haaland, Doku.
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Updated at 18.42 CEST
46 min Timber is booked inside 30 seconds for a cynical foul on Doku, who had vroomed past him and was taking a shortcut towards the rest of the Arsenal defence.
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46 min Manchester City have also made a half-time change: Matheus Nunes from Abdukodir Khusanov at right-back. That might be a legacy of an Arsenal player (I forget who it was) accidentally standing on Khusanov’s foot.
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Saka and Eze on at half-time
No messing around from Mikel Arteta. Bukayo Saka and Eberechi Eze have replaced Mikel Merino and Noni Madueke from half-time.
Bukayo Saka is on for the second half. Arenal are going for it. Photograph: Hannah McKay/ReutersShare
Updated at 18.41 CEST
“I’m trying to ignore the unfamiliarity of Man City sitting back and playing homage to José Mourinho,” writes Charles Antaki. “It’s too disorienting. Much better to celebrate the sparkling stuff from Madueke down the right touchline. To torture the words of the old English folk song, Hey, Noni – Yes!”
I thougth Mikel Arteta was José? Has elite football entered a Hall of Mourrors?
Photograph: Michael Regan/The FA/Getty ImagesShare
Updated at 18.37 CEST
Sky Sports’ Roy Keane on Erling Haaland
He’s like a man possessed. He’s a beast up there; he’s knocking people over, he’s holding the ball up. Great leadership skills he’s showing today – and what a goal!
The goal was his sixth of the Premier League season. That’s twice as many as anyone else.
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Updated at 18.38 CEST
Half-time reading
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Half time: Arsenal 0-1 Man City
City lead at the Emirates through a mighty goal from Erling Haaland. Arsenal have had more shots, all five corners and nearly 70 per cent of the possession – but they haven’t really looked like scoring against an unshamedly defensive City. And with that, I’m off to explore the concept of cognitive dissonance.
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45+5 min Bernardo Silva, who has been booked, flicked a dead ball towards Trossard, who threw it back with greater force – but still not that much – and hit Bernardo in the oohmatrons. The referee Stuart Attwell keeps his cards in his pocket.
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Updated at 18.21 CEST
45+4 min Bernardo Silva is on the floor after an incident with Trossard, who was sent off at this stage of the 2-2 draw last year. It’s not clear what happened this time but players on both sides are having words.
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45+1 min Merino plays a short pass to Madueke on the right side of the area. He shifts the ball to the side of O’Reilly and whacks an early shot that Donnarumma beats away at the near post. Good save because there was an element of surprise to the shot.
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45 min Four minutes of added time.
Mikel Arteta has much to ponder. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The GuardianShare
Updated at 18.23 CEST
44 min Madueke finds himself one v one with O’Reilly, who stays on his feet and makes a good tackle. Arsenal come again through Madueke, who sits O’Reilly down this time and clips a cross that is punched away by Donnarumma. Calafiori, lurking in roughly the same position from which he scored on debut against City a year ago, volleys the rebound over.
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41 min Zubimendi gets to the byline on the left and strains to stand up a useful cross. Gvardiol wins the header, Madueke collects the loose ball and then Doku poke it over his own bar for a corner.
Rice swings it deep, Donnarumma makes a complete mess of his punch but gets away with it when Saliba heads the loose ball wide under pressure. Tough chance.
Donnarumma takes an age over the goalkick and Mikel Arteta is raging on the touchline. This isn’t a criticism of him, because all managers/human beings do it, but I’d love to know how he rationalises a distinction between Donnarumma’s approach and Arsenal’s consistent timewasting in the last few years.
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40 min There’s a bit of dissent among the home fans, some of whom regard Arsenal’s approach as excessively cautious. In some respects it’s been a confusing half because Arsenal have had around 65 per cent of the possession.
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38 min Doku, who has been quiet so far, leads a three-on-three break from a long punt forward. He shuffles past a couple of defenders, then goes down a blind alley and plays the ball back to Rodri. His first-time shot from 25 yards flies into outer space.
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37 min Possession in the last 10 minutes:
EVERYTHING WE KNOW IS WRONG.
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36 min Bernardo Silva is booked for a grautiously late tackle on Gabriel.
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34 min Martin Odegaard hasn’t always been at his best in the last 15 months or so but Arsenal are missing his urgency and imaginative passing. There’s a long way to go – Arsenal scored four in the last 35 minutes of this fixture last season – but right now City are comfortable.
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