City Watch: Stones rescues it at the death

I’m not really sure where to start for this weeks edition of City Watch, mostly because I could write pages about the Arsenal game on Sunday, and Manchester City have played another game since then as well!

Sunday was always going to be a fiery encounter; two teams who have been going at eachother for the better part of two years, frustration of last seasons failure once again with the Gunners mixed with the expectation of five in a row for City built up to an incredible game. 

In the early stages, it looked like the Blues were going to absolutely run away with it, they dominated the opening exchanges. Erling Haaland added to his goal tally inside ten minutes and from there, they looked like going and scoring more, thats ten goals in five games for the Norwegian this season. However, halfway through the first half, Rodri went down in the Arsenal box from a corner, seemingly unchallenged. 

It looked bad at the time and the Spaniard was forced off with the injury. It’s now emerged that he suffered an ACL injury, requiring surgury and will likely be out for season. I’ll get into that a little more later on in the column but that of course will be a huge blow.

The Gunners took quick action, scoring just moments after Rodri had been forced off, a wonderful strike from defender, Calafiori. There was huge controversy surrounding the goal, however, as it seemed that Kyle Walker wasn’t given time to get back into position for the free kick after referee Michael Oliver called him and Saka over to explain the reason for the foul. Looking back at it, I don’t think Walker was given the time to re-adjust, and especially as the referee had called him over, I personally don’t believe the goal should’ve stood.

The problems kept coming for City, as just before halftime, Gabriel added a second to make it 2-1 to Arsenal. The goal came from a well drilled corner, something the Gunners have quite obviously been working very hard on as they’ve scored the most set piece goals in the league this season. 

The drama wasn’t over before half time, however, as Gunners winger, Leandro Trossard was given a second booking and sent off for kicking the ball away after the whistle had blown for a free kick. Trossard and Arteta were livid at the decision, this being the second time this season one of their players has been given a second booking for that specific offence.

Whilst I don’t agree with the rule and think there should be discretion for different circumstances, I think a sending off was the right decision, although it caused major controversy across social media following the game.

I knew going back out for the second half that City were like to have all the possession for the next 45, and sure enough, Arsenal stuck nine men behind the ball. Forget park the bus, they parked the jumbo jet in an effort to try and hold onto their narrow lead. Although it was possibly the most disinteresting halves of football I’ve ever watched, I’ve got to give it to Arteta and his players, they defended incredibly. 

Similar to how Inter Milan set up last week, they championed a low block and being honest, City were starting to run out of ideas. I think we all secretly felt a goal was coming, and in the 98th minute, John Stones stepped up and hammered home a deflected shot played from a short corner, sending the Etihad into pandemonium. I’m not sure whether it could be heard of TV, but the stadium announcer, Alex Kirkley, cheered Stones’ chant when he announced the goal, setting up the the City fans to carry it on, it was a great spectacle and got the loudest chant of the afternoon.

After the game, a 2-2 draw seemed like a fair result and one we know can be hugely important having been in one point title races in seasons gone by. However, after learning the devastating news of Rodri’s injury, I almost feel like the game was a loss. We know we can win games without the Spaniard, but Sunday proved perfectly how important and influential he is.

Prior to his injury, City were all over Arsenal, I thought we were going to get three or four. After he went off, the scope of the game changed, the Blues looked a lot more shaken and less composed. I wrote last week about how the best players make those around them even better, so that injury I suspect will play a major part in the title race. 

I won’t go into it too much as I’ve covered Sunday’s game in a lot of detail, however, City played Watford on Tuesday night in their opening Carabao Cup tie. As expected, Pep didn’t field a full strength team but it was enough to win the tie 2-1 and advance to the next round. The draw for the fourth round will have taken place by the time this column is published so I’ll go into more detail next week about City’s opponents.

Before then, though, the Blues travel to Newcastle on Saturday for their next Premier League fixture, one of my favourite away days, apart from the stairs at St James Park!