Arsenal 1-1 Man City – Martinelli Helps Arsenal To A Point Against An Unusual City Side
Manchester City rocked up to the Emirates Stadium against an Arsenal side full of confidence, especially after their 5-1 win in this fixture last season. The Gunners had only conceded a goal and lost one game this season, and that was against Liverpool just before the first international break of the season.
Arsenal were favourites, but Manchester City also came into the match on the back of 2 impressive wins against Manchester United and Napoli.
An Unusual Man City Side
Pep Guardiola’s teams always to want the ball, dominate the game and create the better chances.
However, with City’s shaky midfield and bad recent form against the likes of Liverpool and Arsenal, Pep Guardiola’s side decided to sit back and hit Arsenal on the counter.
This shocked Arsenal a little bit and that was evident as Erling Haaland started a counter-attack in the 9th minute which eventually led to the opener for City. After the goal, Arsenal looked stumped and out of idea for most of the first half.
They struggled to create chances as they did not expect City to defend that deep. Gianluigi Donnarumma was imperious as City foiled Arsenal’s aerial threat from set-pieces.
That was the case for much of the second half too as Arsenal struggled to bring their most efficient attackers into the game.
Saka and Eberechi Eze came on in the second half, and it was a piece of quality from the former Crystal Palace man that helped the Gunners break City’s defence down in the third minute of stoppage time.
Eze floated a brilliant pass through to Gabriel Martinelli who was also subbed on in the second half, and the Brazilian lobbed the onrushing Gianluigi Donnarumma to level the score.
Despite the draw, Arsenal already find themselves five points behind leaders Liverpool after just five games.
