Man City & Arsenal share spoils in a thrilling PL Classic

Sunday 22 September 2024

Premier League 2024/25

Manchester City Vs Arsenal

Etihad Stadium, Etihad Campus, Manchester M11 3FF, UK

Man City & Arsenal share 4 goals in absorbing & thrilling PL Classic

Erling Haaland scored his 100th goal as Man City avoided their first home loss in 2 years thanks to Stones's late leveller deep into stoppage time.

MATCH PREVIEW:

Two colossal Premier League heavyweights, lock horns in what is a thrilling clash at the Etihad Stadium in matchday 5 of the 2024/25 Premier League season. Both teams off to very good starts in the league. Arsenal with 3 wins and a draw, whereas Manchester City are 4/4 so far. Last season, was very close for the Gunners. Despite taking 4 points off Manchester City by drawing away at Manchester & winning late at home, Mikel Arteta's side threw their title hopes away by surrendering the title to City by 2 points in "THE CLOSEST EVER" title race, that could've gone either way. Now, with new faces in both camp, it comes down to this, which one of these teams, will join Liverpool at the top of the table to end the week? Will it be the unbeaten reigning champions, Man City or Mikel Arteta's ambitious Gunners, looking to win at the Etihad stadium for the first time in 9 years?

TEAM NEWS & Form Guide:

Manchester City: Form Guide (WWWWD). There is no Kevin De Bruyne for Manchester City, as Pep said that he will not feature due to a minor groin issue. 3 changes from their home stalemate against Inter Milan, with Ilkay Gündogan, Kyle Walker and Jeremy Doku starting in place of Grealish, Lewis & the injured KDB. It's also Rodri's first PL start of this season, after featuring as a second-half substitute in last week's home win in the league. It is also Captain Kyle Walker's 200th appearance in the league with Manchester City.

Starting XI: Ederson, Walker (C), Dias, Akanji, Gvardiol, Rodri, Savinho, Bernardo Silva, Gündogan, Doku & Haaland. Formation (4-1-4-1).

Substitutes: Ortega, Stones, Kovacic, Grealish, Foden.

Arsenal: Form Guide (WWDWD). There is no Martin Ødegaard due to an ankle injury, which will sideline him for up to 2 months. 2 changes from their stalemate against Atalanta, with Leandro Trossard & summer signing Ricardo Calafiori starting in place of Ben White & Gabriel Jesus. Declan Rice is back from suspension in the league. 

Starting XI: Raya, Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Calafiori, Saka (C), Partey, Rice, Martinelli, Havertz & Trossard. Formation:(4-4-2 holding).

Substitutes: Neto, White, Jesus, Kiwior, Lewis-Skelly

ONES TO WATCH:

Erling Haaland: He is in RED-HOT FORM in the league this year! 9 PL goals in 4 games, which puts him 1 away from equalling the legendary Cristiano Ronaldo's record of 100 goals for a single club. With 2 PL hat-tricks, can he cause damage to Arsenal's solid backline?

David Raya: This man has been nothing short of OUTSTANDING! The Spaniard is in superb form with 3/4 clean sheets in the league so far. Having won the Golden Glove last year, can he put in a superb performance today?

Gabriel M: The 26-year-old centerback has been phenomenal this season! As he scored the winner against Spurs in the NLD, can he make an impact against Man City and keep Erling Haaland quiet?

KICK-OFF: FIRST HALF

AWAY WE GO AT THE ETIHAD STADIUM!! And it's not even been 5 seconds, but Rodri is down already!! Not good signs for City fans! It was actually Kai Havertz who clattered into the 28-year-old Spaniard, which causes a very early stoppage in play! Thankfully, he is ok to continue. The first City chance was carved on 7 minutes, but Ilkay Gündogan skewed his volley wide! MASSIVE CHANCE FOR MAN CITY! 2 minutes later, Haaland achieved a new record for himself. That's a very good skill from Savinho, as he takes the ball away from Calafiori. Beautiful pass to Haaland, which bisects the two central defenders in Saliba and Gabriel. ONE-ON-ONE AGAINST RAYA IS HAALAND, IS THIS THE MILESTONE MOMENT? YES IT IS!!! ERLING HAALAND HAS MADE IT 1-0 TO MANCHESTER CITY INSIDE 10 MINUTES! WHAT A START FOR THE HOSTS!! AND IT'S NOW 100 MANCHESTER CITY GOALS FOR ERLING HAALAND! HE BECOMES THE 19TH CITY PLAYER AFTER KEVIN DE BRUYNE, SERGIO AGUERO, SHAUN GOATER AND RAHEEM STERLING TO ACHIEVE THIS FEAT! It is also Erling Haaland's 10th PL goal this season in just 5 games!! Unbelieveable from the 24-year-old!

Haaland celebrates his "CENTURION" moment on 10 minutes!

Now, it's Arsenal's turn to answer to this setback. Can they find an equaliser? But we need to wait for that as Rodri is once again, facing another injury problem, after colliding with Thomas Partey in the area! But this time, Rodri cannot continue on, as he is replaced by Mateo Kovacic in the 21st minute of the game! Shortly after the change, Arsenal equalised! NOW, Walker is out of position and Gabriel Martinelli has run away with the ball on the edge of the area. There's the pass, AND WHAT A STRIKE THAT IS!! RICARDO CALAFIORI LEVELS THE GAME IN SOME STYLE! AND WHAT A WAY TO MARK YOUR FIRST PL START WITH A BEAUTY OF A GOAL!

Calafiori's stunner brought Arsenal level on 22 minutes!

And from then on, it was hit and run for both teams. But there were a lot of bookings that Michael Oliver had to deal with. Trossard was booked for tugging Savinho, as the Brazilian tried to start an attack. Ederson was booked for his protests on Calafiori's goal. But Arsenal shrugged off those and scored on the stroke of half-time! Saka's delivery into the box, AND GABRIEL HAS SCORED FOR ARSENAL!! WHAT A TURNAROUND FROM THE GUNNERS!! BRILLIANT SET-PIECE PLAY FROM THE VISITORS TO LEAD 2-1 AND SILENCE THE ETIHAD STADIUM! BACK-TO-BACK GOALS FOR GABRIEL, AND IT'S 5 GOAL CONTRIBUTIONS FOR BUKAYO SAKA!! Quite Amazing from the Gunners!!

Gabriel scored Arsenal's 2nd goal of the game in first-half stoppage time.

Just after the goal, the tension began to rise in the soggy & rainy atmosphere! Now, what's happened here? IT'S A SECOND YELLOW CARD FOR LEANDRO TROSSARD!! AS SOON AS THEY CELEBRATED, ARSENAL ARE NOW DOWN TO 10 MEN! After Partey & Trossard shoved Bernardo Silva to the ground, it was the Belgian who kicked the ball away after the referee blew his whistle for a foul on the 30-year-old Portuguese. It was almost similar to Declan Rice's dismissal in the 1-1 draw against Brighton. 

Saka, Saliba and Timber are shocked when Oliver showed Trossard his marching orders

AND BREATHE A SIGH OF RELIEF!!! AS IT IS HALF-TIME AT THE ETIHAD STADIUM!!

KICK-OFF: SECOND HALF

A half-time defensive change from Arteta sees Bukayo Saka off and on comes Ben White to alter the tactics. A 5-man defence for the Gunners with Kai Havertz the main main up top including a 3-man midfield. The Gunners kick-off the second half with only one thing in mind: DEFEND any threats that the home side create. Truth be told, that is exactly what they did. As City were on the constant urge of finding the equaliser! It definitely was not easy, as the rock-solid back-line continued to make life very tough for the hosts! All 9 players stood solid and gave as much help as they could to David Raya. Kyle Waker and Josko Gvardiol both had efforts denied by Raya, but they could not get out of their own area. The relentless City pressure continues! Time was really running out for Manchester City, as they introduced, John Stones and Jack Grealish with 10 minutes to play. Is there going to be one final twist in this encounter? To top it all off, there will be 7 more minutes of added time! More twists to come you would think? After sending on Gabriel Jesus and the already booked youngster Myles Lewis-Skelly, Manchester City salvaged a valuable point with only 1 minute to play. Last chance for Manchester City to grab a leveller, as Grealish plays the short corner to Gündogan, back to Grealish, back into the box it goes, KOVACIC HITS IT, OFF KIWIOR AND STONES SCORES THE REBOUND INTO THE BACK OF THE NET!!! ABSOLUTELY UNBELIEVABLE SCENES AT THE ETIHAD STADIUM!! ARSENAL, OUT OF STEAM, AS THEY COULD NOT CLEAR THE CORNER AWAY, AND STONES FIRES THE BALL INTO THE EMPTY FOLLOWING A DEFLECTION FROM THE SUBSTITUTE KIWIOR, AND BEYOND THE REACH OF THE HELPLESS DAVID RAYA!! THE UNBEATEN RUN CONTINUES FOR MANCHESTER CITY!!! SO CLOSE, YET SO FAR FOR ARSENAL, AS THEY COULD NOT TAKE DOWN THE DEFENDING CHAMPIONS ON THEIR PERCH.

Stones's late leveller was his first goal this season.

AND THE FULL-TIME WHISTLE HAS BEEN SOUNDED AT THE ETIHAD STADIUM!!

It ends all square after what has been, an extrodinary 90 minutes of football, where it looked as though Arsenal would continue being unbeaten, as they were so close to ending Man City's perfect start, but the hosts showed great fight to ensure that they do not lose at home.

PLAYER OF THE MATCH: David Raya & John Stones

If it wasn't for Arsenal's goalkeeper, there would've been a massive thrashing for Arsenal, but Man City were super lucky to escape with a fortunate draw, thanks to Stones's late goal.