Arsenal 1 Manchester City 1 (aet; Arsenal won 4-1 on pens]
If anyone considered this a glorified kickabout they should have watched Arsenal’s players wheel ecstatically towards their support after Fábio Vieira, finding Stefan Ortega’s top right corner, settled the penalty shoot-out and struck the first blow of the 2023-24 season.
They would also have received an education from Mikel Arteta’s fist-pumping reaction after Leandro Trossard’s shot, heavily deflected off Manuel Akanji, trickled home 11 minutes into added time and gave them their shot at a seemingly unlikely win.
Manchester City seemed to have done enough to win a brisk, watchable enough tie through a fine 77th-minute finish from Cole Palmer but Arsenal deserved parity over the course of proceedings and Arteta will consider this a stopping of the rot after nine straight defeats against last season’s treble winners.
This was always going to be shadow boxing in the broader context but Arteta had made clear in the build-up that he would not mind connecting with a glancing blow. Arsenal lost by an aggregate of seven goals to two in their league meetings with City last season, both defeats contributing heavily to the mental and physical deterioration of their title bid. It was, he admitted on Friday, time to get one over the serial champions.
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Nobody should have been too surprised, then, to see him given a yellow card by referee Stuart Attwell within 17 minutes. Arteta had been enraged by the fact Rodri was not booked for pulling back Kai Havertz, no doubt recalling that Thomas Partey had already been punished for a similar offence, and charged out of his technical area waving an imaginary yellow card.
City’s enjoyed an early monopoly of possession, although it brought few openings. Ten short weeks ago Ilkay Gündogan was winning them the FA Cup here; now his replacement at No 8, Mateo Kovacic, is charged with string-pulling and the Croatian distributed smoothly enough. Ben White intervened smartly after Akanji had stood up a cross for Erling Haaland, while a Rodri daisycutter deflected wide. Arsenal, pressing City’s back line ferociously in possession, looked sufficiently organised to avoid an evisceration this time.
By the half-hour Attwell had been compelled to take four names, Arteta’s included, in his notebook. A genuine edge had developed and the pattern had shifted too. In the 25th minute White, running inside a sluggish Akanji, found himself clear in the box and pulled back for Havertz, controlling the ball beautifully as it arrived slightly behind him, to see a low shot on the turn saved by Orteta’s legs. A Gabriel Martinelli follow-up was blocked by John Stones and Arsenal, noisily backed, had come to life.
Havertz was signed as an attacking midfielder but led the line here, preferred to Eddie Nketiah as the injured Gabriel Jesus’s deputy. His pros and cons in that role are well documented, intelligence and gracefulness not always matched by a centre-forward’s ruthlessness. Five minutes before half-time he was granted an even better opening, Bukayo Saka exposing Akanji this time before centring to the near post for a well-placed Havertz to let Ortega block.
That was far more than City had been able to create, although Rodri found the top of the net from two yards inside Arsenal’s half straight afterwards. It would not have been the ideal time for Aaron Ramsdale, who will have David Raya breathing down his neck if a deal can be reached with Brentford, to be caught out.
Ortega had maintained parity but Ramsdale was the first goalkeeper to be worked after the break. He parried a Stones header upwards, his defence completing the clearance, and City had re-emerged marginally the slicker. Declan Rice, busy and authoritative on his first significant test since joining Arsenal, broke up one passage of play with a smart interception before wasting the subsequent pass. These are the occasions to iron out creases in new relationships and there were enough moments of encouragement from the £105 million signing here, even if a spooned effort in the 63rd minute drew jeers from City’s support.
Erling Haaland had barely been afforded a kick, although those who remember last season’s Community Shield would attest that his fortunes in this fixture are unlikely to be a reliable predictor for the year ahead. Guardiola replaced him with Palmer before the three-quarter mark, Kevin De Bruyne arriving in Kovacic’s stead. A meandering second period found some ebb and flow, Saka air-kicking a precise White cross and Palmer seeing a strike narrowly clear the bar via a deflection.
Then another replacement, Phil Foden, led a break that gave Palmer the platform for his moment of brilliance. The ball was ultimately headed into the 21-year-old’s path by De Bruyne and, from the right side of the penalty area, Palmer bent a delightful finish up and around Ramsdale. He is the loan target of clubs from around the continent but Guardiola could clearly do worse then keep him around for the season.
Ramsdale, saving brilliantly in quick succession from Foden and Rodri, stopped the game running away from Arsenal but they had not suggested a comeback before Trossard struck. Eight minutes of added time had been extended by a collision between Kyle Walker and Partey, both requiring treatment, when the substitute received a short corner, jinked inside and had a go. He was rewarded and, after De Bruyne struck the bar with his penalty and Ramsdale saved from Rodri, so were Arsenal. – Guardian
