Gabriel Martinelli climbs off the bench to rescue a point for the Gunners in injury time after Mikel Arteta’s side had been frustrated by City’s defence....TAP TO CONTINUE READING

Gabriel Martinelli of Arsenal celebrate
Gabriel Martinelli came good for Arsenal late on

Gabriel Martinelli scored an injury-time goal for Arsenal to puncture a Manchester City defensive masterclass and keep alive the Gunners’ Premier League title ambitions. Erling Haaland’s early goal had allowed Pep Guardiola to adapt his game plan before the late twist changed everything.

Haaland put City ahead with the first shot of the game, streaking clear on the counter-attack to finish coolly from Tijjani Reijnders’ pass. Having struggled to break down City’s defence, Mikel Arteta summoned Bukayo Saka and Eberechi Eze from the bench at half-time.

Gianluigi Donnarumma made strong saves from Noni Madueke and Eze, but Guardiola continued to throw curveballs as he took off his attacking players for defensive ones. It appeared to have worked before Martinelli threw a spanner in the works.

Eze’s ball over the top caught City cold and Martinelli lobbed Donnarumma with a brilliant finish to earn his side a point. Here are the talking points.

1. Haaland is inevitable

Once the ball came to Reijnders, it felt inevitable. Arsenal committed too many players to try and win the ball and ended up with five within in a tiny pocket of space. City won the ball, fed Reijnders and raced up the pitch to complete a perfect counter-attack. With Gabriel Magalhaes treading water, Haaland streaked clear and expertly finished with his right foot past David Raya.

His efficiency in front of goal is nothing new and, really, we shouldn’t be surprised by Haaland’s current form because he’s had several other purple patches. But the Norwegian really does look unstoppable right now. His seventh goal in a sixth appearance of the season confirmed what we’ve always known: Haaland is by far the best goal scorer in the Premier League.

Erling Haaland shoots to score the opening goal of the English Premier League football match between Arsenal and Manchester City
Erling Haaland only needed one sight of goal to score
2. Functional but lacking flare

Much of the pre-match chat on Sky Sports focused on Arsenal’s squad depth, with Jamie Carragher in particular purring over the home side’s options on the bench. But Arteta’s decision to stick with the functional trio of Martin Zubimendi, Declan Rice and Mikel Merino in midfield gave Arsenal an obvious issue once Haaland had given the away side the lead.

City sat in a low block and challenged the Gunners to break them down, but without the injured Martin Odegaard and with Eze and Ethan Nwaneri on the bench, there was very little in the way of ingenuity. Merino has physicality, but lacks flare on the ball, much to the frustration of the home crowd. Arsenal’s reliance on set pieces has helped hide their difficulties with breaking down deep-set defences. The first half was a classic example.

Arsenal’s Spanish midfielder #23 Mikel Merino (C) vies with Manchester City’s Dutch midfielder #04 Tijjani Reijnders (L) and Manchester City’s Belgian midfielder #11 Jeremy Doku
Mikel Merino was emblematic of Arsenal’s struggles in the first half
3. Arteta makes his move

Arteta has become known as a cautious manager, but he laid his cards on the table at half-time by bringing on Saka and Eze for Madueke and Merino in a double change that suggested he was admitting making a mistake with his line-up. The substitutions immediately made a difference, with Arsenal much more dangerous right from the whistle in the second half.

But what Arteta probably didn’t expect was the response from his former colleague, who ripped up his normal playbook to combat Arsenal’s threat.

Eberechi Eze of Arsenal
Eberechi Eze came off the bench at half-time
4. Pep parks the bus

Pep Guardiola is the most influential manager of the modern era and we saw a different side to the City boss at the Emirates Stadium. Coming up against his former protégé, Guardiola went ultra-pragmatic. Having got an early goal, he took a leaf out of the book of another modern great and parked the bus.

City sat deep, minimised the space, made niggly fouls, took their time over goal kicks and made a real effort not to over-commit numbers to attacks. In the 68th minute came the most obvious sign of Guardiola’s thinking, with Nathan Ake coming on for Phil Foden. City changed to a back five and essentially shut up shop, with Haaland replaced by midfielder Nico Gonzalez in the 76th minute.

Pep Guardiola gestures on the touchline
Pep Guardiola went ultra defensive in the second half
5. Martinelli rescues Arsenal

It was Martinelli, who along with Trossard, won them the game at Athletic Club in the Champions League. And it was the speedy Brazilian who did it once again a few days later.

City’s defensive line went to sleep and Eze’s long ball over the top caught them cold, allowing Martinelli space to run into. He exploited it perfectly, grabbing a huge point for Arsenal, who were minutes away from losing 1-0 once again to a title rival, having lost to Dominik Szoboszlai’s free-kick at Anfield.